Circe / Madeline Miller

My whole life I had waited for tragedy to find me. I never doubted that it would, for I had desires and defiance and power more than others thought I deserved, all the things that draw the thunderstroke. A dozen times grief had scorched, but its fire had never burned through my skin. My madness in those days rose from a new certainty: that at last, I had met the thing the gods could use against me.

We know Circe as a sorceress who turned men into pigs. This, in essence, is her chance to tell her own story.

Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios and the nymph Perse, knows she is different: a goddess with a conscience, self-doubts and a too-human voice. She is further isolated by her fascination with mortals, which the vain, cruel, self-absorbed deities among whom she lives find baffling and worthy of scorn. Indeed, it's this partiality, along with her sense of guilt and her awareness of her own fallibility, that causes her downfall — and yet.

Exiled to the island of Aiaia, surrounded by tame beasts, Circe learns the secrets of plants and finds the words of power that bring her will to life. This isolation that was meant as a punishment instead affords her the space to come into her own. Over the span of hundreds of generations of humans, she lives with the remorse to which other gods appear immune. Alas, she is not left in peace... Figures from ancient mythology and literature enter her existence, all leaving their indelible marks: the Minotaur, Daedalus, Medea, Hermes, Odysseus and his crew (of course), and countless others.

This autobiographical tale of a goddess who is too clear-eyed for her own good is simply fascinating. I found myself rooting for her constantly, and loved watching her confidence grow in her secluded island home. I fell in love with Madeline Miller's writing from the very first scene. My only issue with this novel is that it came to an end!


I borrowed this book from my local library.

Rating: ****