By Madeline Miller

And now we come to the second of these Madeline Miller books. Before I go on, a bit of housekeeping. After this, I will be reviewing Treasure Island and three adaptations.

“In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is strange-not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. But she has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When Circe’s gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone cannot live in peace for long- and among her island’s guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.

Circe’s tale is a vivid epic of family rivalry, love and loss- the inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright in the darkness of a man’s world.” 

This book was very interesting to read, especially because there are only four myths that includes Circe, and Madeline Miller does well to expand on this. Also, before I got on, I do need to put this warning, there is a rape scene, it’s not fully described, but if this will be a trigger, you might want to give this one a miss.

Now, before we get on to the book, there is a part of Song of Achilles that I did not want to spoil because it was too close to the end of the book.

In the Iliad, Achilles is refusing to fight, Patroclus dresses up in his armour to encourage the troops, but in this version, Patroclus got to the wall of Troy and fantasizes about getting to Helen and ending the war and keeping Achilles safe. Just to see Apollo at the top of that wall them he falls and is killed. The idea that even when we know how this story will end, this book can make you believe it might be different.

Now on to the Circe.

For this story, I have three thoughts.

Firstly, I would like to talk about how Madeline Miller portrays the Titans and Olympians. In many other works the Greek Gods feel like humans with special abilities. But Madeline Miller wipes away any love and compassion from the halls, leaving the worst human traits behind, with everyone grasping all the power they can. And while this action would be the norm in most political courts, here we see that there is no kindness behind closed doors.

Secondly, an interesting comparison between Circe and Son Of Achilles is that there is no end to her story. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it is the fact that Circe is a goddess, meaning that she doesn’t die. Secondly is the fact that there only four myths include Circe, but the point is she is just a side character, and there is no endpoint for her in any of them. This means that it is up to Madeline Miller to create her own ending.

Thirdly, now it is time for me, a person who never had any time looking after children talking about motherhood. Now this probably has more to do with the books that I read, but this is one of the first stories that I have read that portrays how hard being a single mother can be. The fact that Circe is so at her wits’ end on how to get her son to just stop crying, and later to stop throwing destructive tantrums. To add to this, how protective she is of him both because of the usual motherhood but also there are those who seeks to end her son. If I were to compare this book to Song of Achilles, I would say that Circe was a better mother than Thetis but that is not fair. Achilles had both parents and a kingdom’s worth of people to raise him; Telegonus had Circe.

Thank you for joining me on this trip to ancient Greece and until next time in England.

Happy reading to all and to all a good night.