The Greek myths, refined by the great poets and playwrights of Ancient Greece, distil the essence of human life: its brief span, its pride, courage and insecurity, its anxious relationship with the natural world โ earth, sea and sky, represented by powerful gods and monsters.
Taking inspiration from the incomparably beautiful and intense poetry of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, Spurling โ a lifelong classicist and an award-winning playwright and historical novelist โ spins five more myths for contemporary readers. These captivating tales centre on male-female pairs โ Prometheus and Pandora, Jason and the sorceress Medea, Oedipus and his daughter Antigone, Achilles and his mother Thetis, Odysseus and Penelope โ that destroyed dynasties, raised and felled heroes, and sealed the fates of men.
