I’ve devoured everything by Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller. I want more reimagined Greek myths from a feminist perspective. I hated learning Greek mythology in school but am now realizing I hated the way the women were written about and treated. These retellings are fascinating.
by Mission-Tune6471
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**The Pelenopiad**, by Margaret Atwood, takes on the Odyssey from the perspective of the various women in Odysseus’ life. Mostly his wife Penelope, but not exclusively her.
Ooo! Great Question and I have one for this!
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
This is an interesting retelling of The Odyssey told AFTER the fact through Penelope who is now in her afterlife. It gives you her perspective on the events of her husband and what she was doing the years he was away. Her opinions on the different characters and how she navigated everything. It is still written in a way reminiscent of a classic Greek drama and the way that Atwood makes it engaging really pulls you in!
Ithaca by Claire North is another one focused on Penelope, if you don’t mind the same story. I think I liked it better than the Penelopiad, but I read them so many years apart it’s hard to tell.
*Medea* by Christa Wolf is a somewhat overlooked one, because it was published 25 years before feminist retellings suddenly became cool and it is not originally in English – but I highly recommend it. (No idea what the English translation is like and if is easy to find, though.)
The most recent one I have read is *Savage Beasts* by Rani Selvarajah, which is another Medea retelling transferred to the context of the colonisation of India by the British Empire. I think that as a novel, it is not on the same level as, say, Natalie Haynes or Margaret Atwood, but I still think it’s a very good idea for a retelling.
Next up on my list are *Clytemnestra* by Costanza Casati (which I have heard good things about) and *Herc* by Phoenicia Rogerson (which seems like an interesting approach).
(Bonus: *Threads That Bind* by Kika Hatzopoulou is not a retelling but a fantasy/mystery novel with a magic system based on minor aspects of Greek mythology that I thought was really fun and original.)
Check out Jennifer Saint and Pat Barker! Jessie Burton has a really well done version of Medusa and Rachel Smyth’s Lore Olympus is a amazing.
The Witch’s Heart!! It’s a Norse retelling, so good.
Pat Barker, The Women of Troy, and the Margaret Atwood one already recommended
Oh shit this is something I’m just now realizing I want
Jennifer Saint. I have read Ariadne and Elektra, and loved both. I plan to read her third book, Atalanta, soon.
I think you might enjoy Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. It’s a retelling if the Cupid and Psyche Myth.
As a teen, I loved The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley, which is a telling of The Iliad/Trojan War from the perspective of Kassandra. But as it turns out, MZB was an abhorrent child molester, and inserted that content into her books (it is very much present in The Firebrand) and as such, this is an anti-recommendation.
If you’re into graphic novels, I recommend Lore Olympus! Persephone and Hades retelling and absolutely GORGEOUS!
I think this might lean more towards Roman mythology?? But Ovid’s Heroides. Sad but shows the women’s perspective better
Not strictly Greek myths, but in the same vein, ‘Lavinia’ bu Ursula K. LeGuin tells the story of the founding of Rome (latter part of The Aeneid) from the POV of Lavinia, wife of Aeneas, who gets no screen time in The Aeneid.
Gender swapped Greek myths by karrie fransman is an interesting take