Circe
She was the witch in the margins of the Odyssey. Miller gave her the whole story. The result is one of the best novels of the decade.
The Witch of Aeaea
Madeline Miller's 2018 novel reimagines the life of Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios, from her immortal childhood as the least remarkable of the gods through her exile on the island of Aeaea where she discovers her power as a witch. She transforms Scylla, gives birth to Minotaur's father, aids Daedalus, meets Odysseus, raises a child destined for prophecy, and ultimately must choose between her immortal nature and her humanity. Miller spent ten years writing the novel while teaching Latin and Greek. It was a number one New York Times bestseller and a UK bestseller.
Reading Circe
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"I will not be afraid. I will not be what the gods made me. I will be what I make myself.
"Madeline Miller · Circe
Miller wrote her debut novel The Song of Achilles over ten years while working as a Latin and Greek teacher. She spent a further decade writing Circe. Both novels were instant bestsellers. She is a scholar who writes like a novelist.
The novel was inspired by the single passage in the Odyssey where Circe appears and by Miller's frustration that female characters in Greek mythology were defined entirely by their relationships to male heroes.