Ithaca: The exquisite, gripping tale that breathes life into ancient myth (The Songs of Penelope)

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A]ll the war, all the rage and hurt and loss and pain - had been for nothing. For what? For a single night of flame and a few kings taking the spoils? When the sun rose over the ashes of her city, the soldiers of Greece were still hurt, still bloody, still lost, only now there were no stories left, no poets to tell them that they were heroes. So instead they became beasts performing sacrilege upon the living and the dead, for their fathers had taught them no other way to be a man than to howl at the crimson sun. Claire North’s genre is a little difficult to peg down; there are elements of sci-fi and the supernatural, but even combining some of the genres cannot always accurately describe Claire’s work. I know very little about killing, That is the men’s business. But it is the women who come to dress and wail at the corpses when the killing is done, no?" Let us therefore to Ithaca go, in that warm late summer when the leaves begin to crinkle and the ocean clouds tumble in too mighty to be bothered by the little land below. It is the morning after full moon, and in the city beneath the palace of Odysseus, some few hours away by bare foot on hard soil, the first prayers are being sung in the temple of Athena. It is a crooked wooden thing, squat as if frightened of being blown apart in the storm, but with some notable pieces of pillaged gold and silver that only rustics would find magnificent. I avoid passing even a place so dull, lest my stepdaughter show her smug, preening face, or worse, whisper to my husband that she saw me afoot in the world of men. Athena is a priggish little madam; let us move by her shrine in haste. I realise that what makes him king amongst the gods is less the thunderbolt he wields and simply that he believes himself set upon high."*

No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive. I don't want to say too much about the plot, because seeing what North chooses to focus on was surprising for me, but the problem of the suitors looms large, and is explored in a way that feels completely unique to me. And having Hera, frustrated and overlooked and put-upon Hera, be the way into this story ends up feeling extremely inspired. Definitely recommend, and I'm so glad there are going to be two more books in this series.

I love how each book is narrated from the perspective of a different goddess. Ithaca, told from Hera’s perspective, focused on Penelope as a mother and a queen. In House of Odysseus, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, lets us see Penelope as a woman, someone with passions and desires.

The women of Ithaca have been left alone for almost seventeen years since the men of their island left to fight with King Odysseus at Troy. None have returned, including the King. Penelope married Odysseus when she was very young and was secure in her position. But now that he has been absent, she faces a difficult choice – remarry to remain in power or likely be assassinated. Penelope’s life and country hang in a tenuous balance, and it is up to her cunning and wit to maintain the peace of the kingdom. In fact, it is because of the pacing that so many people have admitted to giving up on the book a third of the way through; those readers that slogged through the first half of the book will tell you t hat things become quite awesome in the second half of the story. I who have nothing to lose that the poets have not already taken from me, only I will tell you the truth. I, who part the veil of time, will tell those stories that only the women tell. So follow me to the western isles, to the halls of Odysseus, and listen." Ithaca weaves a tale where the forgotten, seemingly insignificant women finally are given a voice, and I’m glad to have read it.

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Once upon a time, there were three queens in Greece. One was chaste and pure, one a temptress whore, one a murderous hag.” In the second book of The Songs of Penelope, Aphrodite, goddess of love, continues the tale of Penelope after Hera's watch over Clytemnestra. Listen to my voice: I who have been stripped of honour, of power and of that fire that should be mine, I who have nothing to lose that the poets have not already taken from me, only I will tell you the truth. I, who part the veil of time, will tell those stories that only the women tell. So follow me to the western isles, to the halls of Odysseus, and listen.” From the multi-award-winning author Claire North comes a daring reimagining that breathes life into ancient myth and gives voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men. It’s time for the women of Ithaca to tell their tale . . . .

Claire North's words are needles, and each one is directed at some tender part of the patriarchy in this pointedly feminist revision of The Odyssey. Although Margaret Atwood was on to something when she titled hers The Penelopiad, because Odysseus is hardly present in this one at all... and he is not missed.They think the greatest poems are the ones of death in battle and the ravishing of queens. But the stories that will live for ever are of the lost ones, the fearful ones, who through bitter hardship and despair find hope, find strength – find their way home.

The Claire North Pseudonym has done wonders for Catherine Webb. While she was doing relatively well writing under her real name, it is the works she has produced as Clair North that have truly impacted audiences. They think the greatest poems are the ones of death in battle and the ravishing of queens. But the stories that will live for ever are of the lost ones, the fearful ones, who through bitter hardship and despair find hope, find strength – find their way home."Penelope is a clever, complicated woman, who is doing the best she can in a very difficult, male-dominated world....North’s version of Hera compels a rethink about her place in these stories. And the final moments of Ithaca set up the following book very nicely indeed. This is my first Claire North novel, but not my last."— Locus If I have one critique for this book I think that it's a tad on the long side? Hera, is prone to rambling a bit it seems, and though I enjoyed her voice more than not, I do think it could have been trimmed in places. The setting and description are all wonderfully told and easy to envision. It appears as though a second book is due to out in May and you can be sure I'll give it a go.