Circe, by Madeline Miller

Most of us are very familiar with The Odyssey, Homer's ancient tale of the king of Ithaca's labored return from the Trojan War. One of the many episodes in this iconic tale features the witch Circe, who keeps tame wolves and lions and convinces Odysseus to stay on her fertile island for a year. She's portrayed as a temptress in that story, but Circe has her own place in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of the god of the sun, Helios, and a nymph, Perse. Miller, a classicist and author of the well-received The Song of Achilles, takes this staid character and weaves an enthralling tale of Circe's immortal life.

Circe is born into the hallowed halls of her father's domain but never fits in. Her voice grates on her relatives' ears and she's devoid of any inherited powers. Trusting and gullible, Circe repeatedly finds herself in situations where she tries to do the right thing but merely ends up earning her family's derision. The only two people she ever gets close to, her younger brother and a simple fisherman, both end up disappointing her. But when her desire to be loved drives her to use forbidden herbs to transform her fisherman into a god and a rival nymph into the infamous monster Scylla, she is banished to the island of Aiaia. She could have sunken into depression and wasted the long years of her immortality, but instead focuses on learning her newfound witchcraft. Her trusting nature seems to doom her time and time again, but also opens her up to love and empathy, emotions her puerile and petty siblings and cousins are incapable of.

In Miller's hands, this one-dimensional goddess is transformed into a complex, fascinating woman. Familiar tales from antiquity become real, livable moments. The novel starts a bit slow but blossoms into a treasure, and I never wanted it to end. This is no mere tweaked retelling, and I can't wait for its release date in April so I can talk to other readers about it.