Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Bandgt;Four women. andlt;BRandgt; Four stories. andlt;BRandgt; One man's journey.andlt;/Bandgt; andlt;BRandgt; Odysseus. His epic tale has been told countless times, but rarely is it heard through the voices of the women who loved and served him. Penelope, Circe, Athena, Eurycleia: Theirs are the silent voices, the voices of longing, waiting, strength. They are the women who moved him and motivated him. And now they shed new light on his age-old journey.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;Booklistandlt;/Iandgt; This is a retelling that will hook modern teens -- it has the original's adventure, heroism, sex, and romance, made even more accessible by the intimate voices.
Review
Swift, powerful writing.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;School Library Journalandlt;/Iandgt; McLaren adds variety and richness to this already dramatic tale, full to bursting with love, adventure, and hard questions about life.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;Kirkus Reviewsandlt;/Iandgt; A riveting page-turner that...brings a feminine perspective to a classical adventure....This book shines new light on mythic figures and their voyages, and may send voracious readers back to the original.
Review
andlt;Iandgt;andlt;/Iandgt; Swift, powerful writing.
Synopsis
Four women.
Four stories.
One man's journey.
Odysseus. His epic tale has been told countless times, but rarely is it heard through the voices of the women who loved and served him. Penelope, Circe, Athena, Eurycleia: Theirs are the silent voices, the voices of longing, waiting, strength. They are the women who moved him and motivated him. And now they shed new light on his age-old journey.
Synopsis
In this innovative retelling, Clemence McLaren presents the story of Odysseus's epic journey through the eyes of his faithful wife Penelope, the sorceress Circe, the goddess Athena, and his old nanny Eurycleia.
About the Author
Clemence McLaren writes: "When I was a sixth grader, I used to read The Odyssey with a flashlight after I'd been sent to bed. I was both fascinated and frustrated when the women characters left their endless weaving to make brief, intriguing appearances in the men's hall. I always wanted to know how they felt about what was happening, but that was almost never revealed. Did Helen enjoy having the world's most beautiful face? Did Penelope blame her for launching the great war? And why did Circe keep changing men into pigs? I suppose I began retelling these stories to answer my own questions. When I became a teacher, I told my stories to my students, always embroidering on the characters' personalities.
"My fascination for Greece began with that early reading, and I grew up to live out my dreams for six years (on and off) in a tiny Greek village named Mylos, where we had a cottage between the one-room schoolhouse and the bakery.
"I now live in Hawaii, where I'm again studying the language and the legends, amazed at the parallels with Greek mythology. There's a Hawaiian Helen of Troy (named Hina), and a Polynesian equivalent to the Trojan horse (a wooden shark god, engineered to conceal enemy warriors). I'm still telling stories to my students, sharing my own passion for the classics and also teaching them to look more deeply for the silenced voices."
Clemence McLaren has also written Inside the Walls of Troy and Dance for the Land.