Awards

• Winner of Alex Awards 2019

Overview

"This #1 New York Times bestseller is a ""bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story"" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times). In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.#1 New York Times Bestseller -- named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, Buzzfeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider."

Full Product Details

9781549171765

Table of Contents

Reviews

"so vivid, so layered, you could get lost in it... Whether or not you think you like Greek Mythology, this is just great storytelling. It feels cinematic.-- "" NPR's Here & Now"" [Miller] gives voice to Circe as a multifaceted and evolving character...'Circe' is very pleasurable to read, combining lively versions of familiar tales and snippets of other, related standards with a highly psychologized, redemptive and ultimately exculpatory account of the protagonist herself.-- ""Claire Messud, New York Times Book Review"" A retelling of ancient Greek lore gives exhilarating voice to a witch... [Circe is] a sly, petulant, and finally commanding voice that narrates the entirety of Miller's dazzling second novel....Readers will relish following the puzzle of this unpromising daughter of the sun god Helios and his wife, Perse, who had negligible use for their child....Expect Miller's readership to mushroom like one of Circe's spells. Miller makes Homer pertinent to women facing 21st-century monsters.-- ""Kirkus, Starred Review"" An epic spanning thousands of years that's also a keep-you-up-all-night page turner.-- ""Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth"" Circe bears its own transformative magic, a power enabled by Miller's keen eye for beauty, adventure, and reinvention. Through the charms of a misfit heroine, the world of gods becomes stunningly alive, and the world of our own humanity--its questions, loves, and bonds--is illuminated. This book is an immense gift to anyone who reads to find their own bravery and quest.-- "" Affinity Konar, author of Mischling"" Circe, ' [is] a bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story that manages to be both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right.-- ""Alexandra Alter, New York Times"" In Madeline Miller's ""Circe-- ""the gorgeous and gimlet-eyed follow-up to her Orange Prize-winning first novel, ""The Song of Achilles"" Madeline Miller, master storyteller, conjures Circe glowing and alive - and makes the Gods, nymphs and heroes of ancient Greece walk forth in all their armored splendor. Richly detailed and written with such breathtaking command of story, you will be held enchanted. A breathtaking novel.-- ""Helen Simonson, author of The Summer Before the War and Major Pettigrew's Last Stand"" Miller, with her academic bona fides and born instinct for storytelling, seamlessly grafts modern concepts of selfhood and independence to her mystical reveries of smoke and silver, nectar and bones.-- ""Entertainment Weekly"" Miller's lush, gold-lit novel - told from the perspective of the witch whose name in Greek has echoes of a hawk and a weaver's shuttle - paints another picture: of a fierce goddess who, yes, turns men into pigs, but only because they deserve it.-- ""NPR.org "" Miller's spell builds slowly, but by the last page you'll be in awe. In prose of dreamlike simplicity, she reimagines the myth of Circe.-- ""People"" One of the most amazing qualities of this novel [is]: We know how everything here turns out - we've known it for thousands of years - and yet in Miller's lush reimagining, the story feels harrowing and unexpected. The feminist light she shines on these events never distorts their original shape; it only illuminates details we hadn't noticed before.-- ""Ron Charles, Washington Post"" Spellbinding..Miller has created a daring feminist take on a classic narrative; although the setting is a mystical world of gods, monsters, and nymphs, the protagonist at its heart is like any of us.-- ""O Magazine"" The story of Circe's entanglement with Odysseus lasts far beyond the narrative of ""The Odyssey,"" making for compelling material to revisit. But ultimately it's as a character that Circe stands apart....Through her elegant, psychologically acute prose, Miller gives us a rich female character who inhabits the spaces in between.-- ""Colleen Abel, Minneapolis Star Tribune"" This telling, in the sorceress's own words, is not the version we think we know.-- ""New York Times 'T Magazine' "" With lyric beauty of language and melancholy evocative of Keats' ""Ode on a Grecian Urn"", CIRCE asks all the big questions of existence while framing them in the life story of the famous goddess who had the magic of transformations. A veritable Who's Who of the gods of Olympus and the heroes of ancient Greece, Circe knows them all and we see them through her perceptive eyes. This is as close as you will ever come to entering the world of mythology as a participant. Stunning, touching, and unique.-- ""Margaret George, author of The Confessions of Young Nero"" Written with power and grace, this enchanting, startling, gripping story casts a spell as strong and magical as any created by the sorceress Circe.-- ""Mary Doria Russell, author of Epitaph"" Winner of the 2019 Indie Choice Award Shortlisted for the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction Named one of the 'Best Books of 2018' by NPR, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Southern Living, and Refinery 29. Circe is the utterly captivating, exquisitely written, story of an ordinary, and extraordinary, woman's life-- "" Eimear McBride, author of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing"" ""Circe is above all the chronicle of an outsider woman who uses her power and wits to protect herself and the people she loves."" -- ""Shelf Awareness"" ""[A] lush, gold-lit new novel...From the perspective of Circe."" -- ""NPR"" ""A classic story of female empowerment...an uncompromising portrait of a superheroine who learns to wield divine power while coming to understand what it means to be mortal."" -- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" ""An epic spanning thousands of years that's also a keep-you-up-all-night page-turner."" -- ""Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author"" ""Author Madeline Miller and narrator Perdita Weeks transform the ancient Greek drama of Circe, witch of Aeaea and daughter of Helios, into a fresh and vibrant tale for contemporary listeners...Weeks' cool British intonations and attuned performance capture Circe's evolution from youthful uncertainty amid scorn from richly characterized fellow deities to a confidence earned from centuries of island exile...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Captures a -sorceress from a time not our own and makes her achingly real."" -- ""LibraryReads"" ""Circe's story receives new life when freed from the limiting view of the male gaze. For fans of adaptation, historical fiction, and strong female leads, Miller's Circe is a must-read."" -- ""Booklist"" ""Deftly weaves episodes of war, treachery, monsters, gods, demigods, heroes, and mortals...[An] absorbing and atmospheric read."" -- ""School Library Journal (starred review)"" ""Explores what it means when a woman stands alone to face her family and her gods in defense of who she is."" -- ""Signature"" ""Hews to the poetic timber of the epic, with a rich, imaginative style commensurate to the realm of immortal beings sparked with mortal sass."" -- ""Washington Post"" ""Miller makes Homer pertinent to women facing twenty-first-century monsters."" -- ""Kirkus Review (starred review)"" ""Miller...seamlessly grafts modern concepts of self-hood and independence to her mystical reveries of smoke and silver, nectar and bones. Grade: A-."" -- ""Entertainment Weekly"" ""Miller's enthralling second novel may be about a goddess, but it has a lot to say about what it means to be a woman."" -- ""BookPage"" ""Narrator Weeks raises this eloquent reimagining to new heights with her stunning performance...mesmerizing listeners in this intimate first-person retelling."" -- ""Booklist (starred audio review)"" ""This gorgeous novel...is a moving tale of a woman finding herself and struggling with family loyalties."" -- ""Real Simple"" ""This is as close as you will ever come to entering the world of mythology as a participant."" -- ""Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author"" ""This lyrical novel deserves a second read, especially in the form of Perdita Weeks' audio performance...Her performance makes Circe's forced interiority a vibrant thing that roils with more life and imagination than any of the gods and nymphs whose worse behaviors never led to their own banishment."" -- ""Paste Magazine (audio review)"" --Laura Collins-Hughes, Boston Globe --May-Lee Chai, Dallas News 'Circe' is a sentence-by-sentence miracle"";--Michigan Daily Ambitious in scope, Circe is above all the chronicle of an outsider woman who uses her power and wits to protect herself and the people she loves, ultimately looking within to define herself. Readers will savor the message of standing against a hostile world and forging a new way.-- ""Shelf Awareness"" Madeline Miller's re-imagining of the witch Circe from The Odyssey makes for an intriguing, feminist adventure novel that is perfectly suited for the #TimesUp moment. Circe is also a smart read that has much to say about the long-term consequences of war and a culture that values violence and conquest over compassion and learning...Miller mines intriguing details from the original tale to imagine a rich backstory for Circe that allows readers to re-visit the world of Olympians and Titans in Greek mythology. From the court of the Titans, the reader meets Circe's parents, the god Helios and nymph Perse, and is introduced to a world of supernatural power players that is every bit as back-biting, gossip-filled and vicious as any episode of House of Cards."" Miller gives voice to a previously muted perspective in the classics, forging a great romance from the scraps left to us by the ancients....Circe is, instead, a romp, an airy delight, a novel to be gobbled greedily in a single sitting.""--Aida Edemariam, Guardian"

Circe's story receives new life when freed from the limiting view of the male gaze. For fans of adaptation, historical fiction, and strong female leads, Miller's Circe is a must-read. -- Booklist Circe is above all the chronicle of an outsider woman who uses her power and wits to protect herself and the people she loves. -- Shelf Awareness Miller's enthralling second novel may be about a goddess, but it has a lot to say about what it means to be a woman. -- BookPage Captures a -sorceress from a time not our own and makes her achingly real. -- LibraryReads A classic story of female empowerment...an uncompromising portrait of a superheroine who learns to wield divine power while coming to understand what it means to be mortal. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Deftly weaves episodes of war, treachery, monsters, gods, demigods, heroes, and mortals...[An] absorbing and atmospheric read. -- School Library Journal (starred review) Miller makes Homer pertinent to women facing twenty-first-century monsters. -- Kirkus Review (starred review) Explores what it means when a woman stands alone to face her family and her gods in defense of who she is. -- Signature This lyrical novel deserves a second read, especially in the form of Perdita Weeks' audio performance...Her performance makes Circe's forced interiority a vibrant thing that roils with more life and imagination than any of the gods and nymphs whose worse behaviors never led to their own banishment. -- Paste Magazine (audio review) Magic, adventure, and mythology-this one's got it all. -- Bustle [A] lush, gold-lit new novel...From the perspective of Circe. -- NPR This gorgeous novel...is a moving tale of a woman finding herself and struggling with family loyalties. -- Real Simple Hews to the poetic timber of the epic, with a rich, imaginative style commensurate to the realm of immortal beings sparked with mortal sass. -- Washington Post Author Madeline Miller and narrator Perdita Weeks transform the ancient Greek drama of Circe, witch of Aeaea and daughter of Helios, into a fresh and vibrant tale for contemporary listeners...Weeks' cool British intonations and attuned performance capture Circe's evolution from youthful uncertainty amid scorn from richly characterized fellow deities to a confidence earned from centuries of island exile...Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award. -- AudioFile Narrator Weeks raises this eloquent reimagining to new heights with her stunning performance...mesmerizing listeners in this intimate first-person retelling. -- Booklist (starred audio review) Miller...seamlessly grafts modern concepts of self-hood and independence to her mystical reveries of smoke and silver, nectar and bones. Grade: A-. -- Entertainment Weekly This is as close as you will ever come to entering the world of mythology as a participant. -- Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author An epic spanning thousands of years that's also a keep-you-up-all-night page-turner. -- Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Madeline Miller was born in Boston and attended Brown University where she earned her BA and MA in Classics. She lives in Narbeth, PA with her husband and two children. The Song of Achilles was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction and has been translated into twenty-five languages. Perdita Weeks is a voice talent and AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available