Circe, by Madeline Miller

I happened to turn from reading about seventeenth century Norwegian “witches” in The mercies to a novel centered on the ur-witch in Greek mythology, the enchantress, Circe.  Although the cast of characters and the plots will be familiar to anyone who took a little Latin or had a course in mythology, the author has reworked these well-known stories into something quite new.  The writing is lush, like the island that Circe is banished to after angering the mighty, with rhythms echoing the “wine-dark sea” and “dawn’s rosy fingers” of the ancient retellings.  I found I couldn’t put it down, even though in most of the time I knew what was coming next.  Most will remember Circe, a daughter of the Titan sun god, Helios, and a minor naiad, as the witch who turned Odysseus’ men into swine and cast a spell on him to make him forget about his wife, Penelope, back in Ithaca to keep him on her island as her lover.  So many mythical figures touch on her story in the Greek traditions, from Daedalus to Jason and the Argonauts to Medea to the Minotaur, and most make an appearance in the novel, which is told in first person by Circe.  There is a definite feminist undertone to her tale.  The reader will come to admire her and her difficult choices, including her final one.  The power of these ancient stories may be in their ability to be bent to other cultures and still have important things to say.  Pretty amazing book.  420 pp.