House of Odysseus is an interesting retelling of the Odyssey, but centered on Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, who he left behind when he went to fight the Trojan War. This is the second in author Claire North’s Penelopiad. Nearly twenty years after the fall of Troy, Penelope is still alone. Her son Telemachus has gone off to seek his father or some proof of his death. Her kingdom is considered up for grabs since everyone thinks Odysseus is dead, including his old friend Menelaus, who appears on Ithaca ostensibly in search of his nephew Orestes who is presumably going mad with grief and guilt after killing his mother. In truth, Menelaus plans to usurp both kingdoms. Orestes’ sister, Electra, brings him to Ithaca seeking a place to hide from Menelaus who, she is certain, will steal her brother’s throne. Penelope walks a fine line trying to keep her kingdom from being conquered, trying to rule without being so unwomanly her allies turn against her.
The narrator of the first book, Ithaca, is Hera, the goddess wife of Zeus, a woman of a certain age with a unique voice. The narrator here is Aphrodite, who also has an interesting, if unabashedly sexual voice (what else for the goddess of love)? She, Artemis, and Athena all have chosen sides in this conflict and do their best to support the women of Ithaca without catching the attention of Zeus and all the “manly” gods of Olympus. While the prose never reaches the epic quality that Madeline Miller does in The Song of Achilles and Circe, I enjoyed Aphrodite’s wit and found her an interesting narrator.
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House of Odysseus (Redhook, August 22, 2023) is available through:
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You can read my review of Ithaca, the first in the series here.
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