From the Orange Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author of The Song of Achilles comes the powerful story of the mythological witch Circe, inspired by Homer's Odyssey
Chosen as must-read book of 2018 by the Guardian, Independent, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Express and Stylist.
Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, the boys develop a tender friendship, a bond which blossoms into something deeper as they grow into young men.
Madeline Miller has a BA and MA from Brown University in Latin and Ancient Greek, and has been teaching both for the past nine years. She has also studied at the Yale School of Drama, specialising in adapting classical tales to a modern audience. The Song of Achilles is her first novel and was the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012.
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Viv Groskop review in The Independent
The writer and journalist Viv Groskop reviewed The Song of Achilles for The Independent! Here is a an excerpt below: “For a whistlestop tour around the life and times of Achilles, you’d be hard pressed to find a better guide than Madeline Miller. This accomplished and enjoyable novel…is original, clever and in a class of…
Read MoreSunday Herald Review
An excerpt from Lesley McDowell’s review of The Song of Achilles in the Sunday Herald: “Miller’s prose flows easily and poetically, and treats the relationship between the two men with sensitivity and skill… A fascinating debut.”
Read MoreBack-to-School Patroclus
In honor of all the students going back to school, I wanted to share one of my favorite Patroclus-related teaching stories. In my middle-school Latin class, we were discussing which gods had taken which sides in the Trojan War. I asked who was on the Greek side, and the students called out answers: “Athena!” “Hera!” …
Read More‘Book of a Lifetime: The Iliad’ in The Independent
I first encountered Homer’s Iliad as a young child, when my mother read it to me as a bedtime story. It was love at first listen. Here is a short essay I wrote about that, published today in The Independent’s “Book of a Lifetime” series. In it, I mention one of my favorite similes from…
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