Circe, by Madeline Miller

In the vein of Kerry Greenwood’s women of Troy series, this novel gives a different take on the Odyssey by telling it from the point of view of the witch Circe. Daughter of the Titan Helios, Circe is an outsider in her family and among the gods generally. Scapegoated and exiled, Circe builds an idyllic but essentially lonely life on the island of Aiaia, honing her skills over the centuries. As well as the Odyssey many of the major myths are touched on, with Circe somehow having a hand in the stories of Prometheus, Scylla and Charybdis, Daedalus and Icarus, the Minotaur, Jason and Medea. Some of these tales are more effective than others, with the focus more on their effect on Circe than the details of the stories themselves. The suffering of Prometheus and his influence on Circe is profound, but the treatment of Jason and Medea seems perfunctory. There is no sugar coating of the brutality and general indifference of the Gods in their interactions with mortals. Circe confirms her outsider status by behaving differently from her fellow immortals, confirming this ultimately by her choice to become her true self.