House of Odysseus

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. Beyond Ithaca's shores, the whims of gods dictate the wars of men. But on the isle, it is the choices of the abandoned women - and their goddesses - that will change the course of the world. Orestes, King of Mycenae, is mad. Wracked with grief and guilt for putting his adulterous mother to death, he grows ever more unhinged. but a king cannot be seen to be weak. To keep him safe and prevent the men of Mycenae turning against him, his sister Elektra brings him to Ithaca to recover, under the protection of queen Penelope. But no sooner has Orestes arrived then his uncle, the formidable and vengeful Menelaus - king of Sparta, comes looking for him. When Menelaus sees a chance to expose Orestes' madness and seize his throne, he will take it, and with it become a new, dangerous and unstable power in Greece. Caught between Sparta and Mycenae, Penelope must protect Ithaca from this war of two mad kings who are willing to burn everything to the ground. Her only allies are Elektra, desperate to protect her brother, and Helen of Troy, Menelaus' wife. Praise for the Penelope series:'Claire North brings a powerful, fresh and unflinching voice to ancient myth - darkly fascinating, raw and breathtaking' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller Ariadne'Like Penelope at her loom North both weaves and unweaves, teasing out the threads of Homeric myth to recombine them into something unique, wonderful and urgently contemporary' M. R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts