ARTS & CULTURE
ARIADNE BY JENNIFER SAINT
Here’s another welcome opportunity to escape to ancient Greece for a retelling of a classic myth from the perspective of the long-silent female characters. This time, it’s Ariadne’s tale of woe that gets dragged out of the labyrinth into the scorching Cretan sunshine for a closer, more informed look. Author Jennifer Saint does not hold back in this, her debut novel, recounting the familiar tale of Theseus and the Minotaur through the eyes of Ariadne and her sister Phaedra. What would it actually have been like to have such a creature for a little brother? How could their mother Pasiphaë ever
recover from giving birth to a monster that was half man, half bull? And why would Theseus abandon the woman who had just turned her back on her family and people to help slay the Minotaur and escape? Brilliantly imaginative and totally engrossing from the start, Saint creates whole worlds where ancient texts only shared sentences, shining light into the shadows where the women were shoved, while making readers raise eyebrows at the cruel gods and the men who act in their name. Very pleasingly, Saint is already working on another retelling of a Greek myth – it can’t come soon enough.
THE WOLF DEN BY ELODIE HARPER
At first, the unflinchingly explicit and brutal world in which we meet Amara, enslaved in ancient Pompeii’s most notorious brothel, is almost too shocking to bear, but the doctor’s daughter quickly hardens against the grim reality of her new existence. Packed with historical detail without becoming educational, this is a gripping and compelling tale of humanity, and the powerlessness and resourcefulness of women in the ancient world. We experience life in pre-eruption Pompeii through the eyes of Amara and the other ‘She Wolves’ – prostitutes owned by sadistic pimp Felix, who will stop at nothing to get every last denarius from his purchases. Their situation seems hopeless, yet by using her quick mind and the talents of another ‘lupa’ named Dido – a noble-born woman sold into slavery following family misfortune – she starts to see the first glimmers of hope for a new life. But theirs is a fragile existence, in which everything can be taken away at a moment’s notice, including life. Impossible to put down and taut with tension up to the last page, this is a deeply affecting book that confronts questions of power, control, free will, and the timelessness of our most basic instincts.
“Taut with tension up to the last page”
IMAGE With debut novel Ariadne, Jennifer Saint retells the classic mythological tale of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of previously glossed over female characters. The author’s revision of the ancient Greek story poses brand-new and thought-provoking questions for the reader
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