_Madeline_Milller.jpeg) US 1st ed. | |
| Author | Madeline Miller |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Perdita Weeks |
| Cover artist | Will Staehle |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Circe |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Set in | Greek Heroic Age |
| Publisher | Little, Brown (US) Bloomsbury (Int'l) |
Publication date | April 10, 2018 (US) April 19, 2018 (Int'l) |
| Publication place | United States International |
| Media type | Print, ebook, kindle, audiobook |
| Pages | 393 pp |
| Awards | Athenaeum Award (2018) Goodread—Fantasy (2018) Kitschies—Novel (2018) Alex Awards (2019) |
| ISBN | 9780316556347 (hardcover 1st ed.) |
| OCLC | 1029608347 |
| 813.6 | |
| LC Class | PS3613.I5445 C57 2018b |
| Website | Official website |
Circe is a 2018mythicfantasy novel by American writerMadeline Miller. Set during theGreek Heroic Age, it is an adaptation of variousGreek myths, most notably theOdyssey, as told from the perspective of the witchCirce. The novel explores Circe's origin story and narrates Circe's encounters with mythological figures such asHermes, theMinotaur,Jason, andMedea and ultimately, her romance withOdysseus and his sonTelemachus.
Circe is thedivine daughter of thetitanHelios andnaiadPerse. Deemed unattractive and powerless from birth, she is neglected by her father and bullied by the rest of her family. While still young, she witnesses the titanPrometheus being punished for giving fire to humanity and gives him nectar when no one is looking. She bonds with her younger brotherAeëtes, but he leaves her to rule his own kingdom.
Circe falls in love withGlaucos, a mortal fisherman. Circe feeds Glaucos sap of magical flowers grown in soil that was once soaked with the blood of the titanKronos and transforms him into a god. Arrogant in his newfound divinity, however, Glaucos rejects Circe in favor of the nymphScylla. Circe's jealousy causes her to use the flowers' magic again, transforming Scylla into a bloodthirsty six-headed monster. Circe confesses her deeds to Helios, who disbelieves her powers at first; Aeëtes reveals that he and his siblings arewitches who can draw out magic from such herbs. To keep the peace between the Titans and the Olympians, led byZeus, Helios and Perse are forbidden from having more children. Aeëtes and his other children are to be monitored, but Circe is punished for purposely seeking out the magic and using it on another god. Circe is permanentlyexiled to the island ofAiaia. Here she is able to occupy a luxurious house and adopt a tame lion.
Circe uses her exile to hone her witchcraft. Over the centuries she spends on Aiaia, Circe interacts with many mythic figures. She receives visits from the Olympian godHermes, whom she takes as a lover. She is escorted off the island by the mortalDaedalus. During her brief visit toCrete, Circe helps her sister birth theMinotaur and uses her witchcraft to help tame the monster. Many years later, the heroJason and his wife the witchMedea (Circe's niece) arrive on Aiaia after having stolen theGolden Fleece from Circe's brother Aeëtes, murdering Medea's brother,Absyrtus, in the process. Circe cleanses them of the crime and warns Medea of Jason's waning interest in her but is rebuffed.
Circe enters a period of loneliness and is excited to host a group of forlorn sailors who arrive on Aiaia in search of food and rest. Once the sailors realize that Circe lives alone on the island, the ship captain rapes her. Circe uses her witchcraft to transform all the men into pigs. When subsequent ships arrive at her island she continues to do so, sparing only a handful of crewmen who behave with pious respect and do not attempt to force themselves on her. One ship arrives led by the heroOdysseus, who charms Circe into sparing his crew and hosting them on her island. Odysseus and his crew ultimately stay on Aiaia for one year. Though Odysseus and Circe have an affair, he leaves to continue his journey back toIthaca, where his wife and child wait. Circe gives birth to a son,Telegonus.
Circe realizes that the goddessAthena threatens her son. Circe casts a spell to protect the island while Telegonus grows. When the teenage Telegonus begs to leave the island to meet his father, Circe acquires the poison tail of the marine godTrygon as a weapon for his protection. When Telegonus meets his father, however, Odysseus attacks him and is accidentally killed by the poisoned spear. Guilty, Telegonus returns home with Odysseus's wife,Penelope, and sonTelemachus.
Having lost her hero Odysseus, Athena visits Aiaia to offer her patronage to Telemachus, who refuses her. Telegonus accepts in his stead and embarks on his own heroic journey. Forlorn by the loss of her son, Circe summons her father and asks him to negotiate with Zeus to end her exile. Helios initially refuses, but Circe blackmails him by threatening to inform Zeus of how she spoke with Prometheus, which could potentially start a war between the Olympians and Titans. With Telemachus's help, Circe uses the poison spear to turn Scylla to stone and collects more of the flowers she once used on Glaucos. Finding love with Telemachus, Circe uses the flowers' magic on herself with the intention of becoming mortal and living out her days traveling with him.
In a review forThe New York Times,Claire Messud describes Miller'sCirce as "pleasurable," approving of itsfeminist themes and its "highly psychologized, redemptive and ultimately exculpatory account" of Circe's familiar tale.[1] A review published viaThe Washington Post byRon Charles contextualizes Miller's novel within theMeToo movement and praises her reimagining of Circe's story as "harrowing and unexpected", casting a "feminist light" on timeless tales that "illuminates details we hadn't noticed before."[2]The Guardian'sAida Edemariam also praises Miller for finding novelty and "narrative propulsion" by anchoring her retelling around the "emotional life of a woman."[3]
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Athenaeum Literary Award | — | Won | [4] |
| Goodreads Choice Awards | Fantasy | Won | [5] | |
| Kitschies | Red Tentacle (Novel) | Won | [6] | |
| Waterstones Book of the Year | — | Shortlisted | [7][8][9] | |
| 2019 | Alex Awards | — | Won | |
| Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence | Fiction | Longlisted | [10] | |
| Australian Book Industry Awards | International Book | Shortlisted | [11] | |
| Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards | Fiction | Won | [12] | |
| Beautiful Book | Shortlisted | |||
| Indies Choice Book Awards | Adult Fiction | Won | [13][14] | |
| Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize | — | Longlisted | [15] | |
| Mythopoeic Awards | — | Shortlisted | [16] | |
| RUSA CODES Reading List | Historical Fiction | Shortlisted | [17] | |
| Women's Prize for Fiction | — | Shortlisted | [18] | |
| 2020 | International Dublin Literary Award | — | Longlisted | [19][20] |
In 2019,HBO Max announced an eight-episode adaptation of the novel to be written and produced byRick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.[21]
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