I was given the hardback version of this book as a birthday present. It is beautiful to behold, shining like copper and looking like a Grecian urn.
Circe is an absolutely beautifully written book set in ancient Greece, or rather within Greek mythology. It’s the story of gods, family and destiny. Circe, the witch on the island of Aiaia, who turns sailors into pigs, is the main protagonist, and we follow her from childhood to motherhood and beyond. Like her uncle, Prometheus, she is drawn to humans. Maybe because they do not treat her like a freak and a disappointment.
Circe is strong, brave and determined. She never turns from a fight and outwits almost every foe, yet she is lonely. She loves and she loses, for no mortal can last. Even her son is mortal, and although she battles from the moment of his birth to protect him, she knows that ultimately he will die.
The book is full to the brim of powerful female characters and focuses on their stories just as the old myths focused on the men and male gods.
There’s a lovely passage from p.172 that sums up the tone and theme of the story -
“There were answers in me. I felt them, buried deep as last year’s bulbs, growing fat. Their roots tangled with those moments I had spent against the wall, when my lions were gone and my spells shut up inside me, and my pigs screamed in the yard.”
I have read many wonderful books this year, so I am comparing this to other beautiful stories, and yet it is hard to remember a book that I have enjoyed more.
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