Penelope is such a superstar and I am happy to have a trilogy highlighting her cunning as she deftly manoeuvers to avoid the suitors hanging about the palace of Ithaca. Well known that she weaves the death shroud of Laertes by day, unravelling her labours by night, so as to delay the time when she must accept one of the suitors as a replacement for the long gone, assumed dead, Odysseus. But we know little more of her beyond this. Here her tale is told in a refreshing take on Greek myth.

Having recently read a number of novels detailing Agamemnon's return home from the Trojan War, and the chain of events that befall his family in the aftermath, I found this to be the most compelling of them all. True, Ithaca is not about the family of Atreus but they do feature heavily whilst Penelope awaits Odysseus' long overdue arrival home. In Ithaca we have a new appreciation for Penelope as a well rounded, brilliant strategist (not unlike her husband) but also enjoy a sympathetic view of Clytemnestra and Elektra. The best characterisation of them both in this novel. Perhaps due to our narrator's preference for the on-the-run queen? And who should narrate this yarn but Hera, the Queen of Olympus. She is rather indiscreet, sharing liberally her love-hate relationship with a number of Gods and Goddesses. Clytemnestra is clearly Hera's favourite Greek Queen and her devotion softens the Queen and makes her a person worthy of more than a bit of sympathy. Elektra comes off rather hard, but she is an oddity, anyway, but by the end I had warmed to her a great deal. Quite an accomplishment as I have never liked her in any previous books in which she has featured.

Back to Penelope our quiet, thoughtful Queen of Ithaca. Her days are more than weaving as she must keep her gaggle of suitors fed and keep Ithaca running smoothly. Trouble raises its ugly head as pirates add to her list of woes causing friction with Telemachus, her son, who is reaching early adulthood and wants to make his mark. But, our girl is nothing if not capable and watching her and her loyal servants operate is a great lesson in diplomacy.

Ithaca is a terrific start to what promises to be an exceptional series. Penelope is a character worthy of more screen time and I am pleased to say that this book does her justice but is also funny, touching and thought provoking as well.

I love reading myth retellings and when I saw Ithaca on Netgalley, I couldn't resist. Thankfully I really liked it. It is well-written and the fact that I already know the premise and the original myth/story made it even better ,as I wanted to see how it would be interpreted by the author.
In the book we are seeing the events through Hera's POV. She oversees what happens in Ithaca during Odysseus' absence and especially what is happening with the women and how they are managing certain situations. We witness how Penelope strives to hold the kingdom together. She has Hera on her side, who tries to help her without drawing any attention from the other gods.
The book touches on serious issues about women and their role in ancient times. How they had no autonomy and how cruelly they were treated.
The ending promises that a really exciting sequel is in the making and I am looking forward to it.

I was sent a copy of Ithaca by Claire North to read and review by NetGalley. What a wonderful book! Full of myth and intrigue, gods and suitors and best of all the women! This is a very clever and extremely amusing tale voiced by the goddess Hera and focusing on Penelope, wife of Odysseus and queen of Ithaca. Totally engrossing and entertaining and beautifully written, I could hardly put it down. You don’t have to be interested in Greek mythology or even a fan of historical novels to enjoy this book. Let’s hear it for the girls!!!

Most of us are aware of the story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, of the long years spent away from home - first in the siege at Troy, then at the mercy of gods and monsters as he tried to make his way home - but here is the story of the wife, and island, he left behind.
Hardly more more than a girl when Odysseus left, Penelope has unobtrusively kept their island kingdom going. With all the able-bodied men following their king to war, farming, fishing, and trading have fallen to the women. Life has been quiet, but they survived.

Now, with the majority of Greek warriors returned from Troy, Penelope faces new problems, finding herself besieged by self-proclaimed heroes determined to win her hand, and kingdom, while eating and drinking their way through her stores. At first convivial, their mood is turning nasty. What can Penelope do to keep the peace? One day, she hopes, Odysseus will return, but until then, on an island of women, old men, and inexperienced youths, who can defend her?



There seems to be a re-awakened interest in Greek myths at the moment, with books from authors as varied as Natalie Haynes and Stephen Fry, but Ithaca I feel is the best I've read from the women's point of view. Told from the omniscient point of view of gossipy, sarcastic goddess, Hera, wife of Zeus, this is retelling with a feminist feel. How the left-at-home women actually coped while their men were away is something we can't know, but here Claire North offers an alternative to the meek-mannered version of Penelope of myth. Dealing with an unruly mob of suitors, the threat of pirates along Ithaca's coast, and the unexpected presence of a disgraced queen, Penelope proves herself to be as sly and cunning as Odysseus himself..

It's a change of mood for Cla

My thanks to NetGalley and Orbit publishing for the opportunity to review this book.
I love a Greek mythology retelling so had exceptional high hopes but struggled with the writing style and so much information that seemed to dip in and out.
I'm sure that for some this will be an amazing read but on a personal level not for me

It is 18 years since Odysseus sailed to Troy and his wife, Penelope, is the only person who still holds faith that he is alive. Ithaca is not a rich land but trade is good and Penelope tries to rule as best she can even though she is a women, this relative prosperity has attracted many suitors for her hand as a widow. As pirates raid the shores every full moon and her cousin appears after killing her husband, Penelope must hide her strengths yet strike a balance between her country and the whims of the Gods.
This is such a brilliant retelling of the ancient tales from a female perspective. Placing reality against legend is difficult to do but the descriptions of Ithaca are not about riches, more about poverty and animal herding. The narrator is Hera, Queen of the Gods, but here she is sidelined and lacks the glamour of others. The voice is very modern in terms of language and this also works incredibly well. There are a lot of novels on similar themes around at present and this stands out, firstly because it is less reverential that most but secondly because it takes a feminist perspective which is really refreshing.

Rating:
3 out of 5 stars

Summary:
This novel tells the story of Penelope, wife of Odysseus and mother to Telemachus, two rather famous characters from Ancient Greek history and mythology. However, the Ancient Greeks did not tend to write ANY stories at all about their women, because they thought women had a few jobs in life and were not important enough to be featured in stories. This story about Penelope shows something very different and implies an active role for women on Ithaca during the time that Odysseus was away and Telemachus did not really have any clue on what to do with mysterious attacks.

Review:
This book is written from the perspective of Hera, wife of Zeus and she is an omniscient narrator. Claire North uses this perspective to comment on how the Ancient Greeks thought of women and their role in life and this makes the narrator highly sarcastic and ironic at times, which I really love!
Moreover, the chapters are fairly short, which makes this an easier book to read ‘just in between other tasks’. You can easily just read a chapter while waiting on the train or bus or to just take a short break from homework or working.
What I liked a bit less about the writing style was that it was at times unnecessarily difficult to read. I understand that the story takes place in Ancient times and that our view of their use of language is more difficult, formal and prominent, but I think that with the foreign names and the difficulty of following the storyline at times, the language could have been easier, especially with the target audience.
The characters were absolutely great! The goddesses and gods were as sarcastic and sassy as I have always imagined them in my classes on Ancient Greek and multiple habits/norms/rules that I recall from those classes were implemented in the book as well. This really shows that Claire North did their research on this topic and seriously wrote this book as opposed to ‘oh this seems like a fun topic to write about’.
The storyline was really nicely written as well, just at times a bit confusing. The characters also had some trouble understanding what was happening and instead of that being funny or logical, it made the story more confusing, which was a pity. However, research has been done for the plot as well and it made the story 10x more fun to read!

Conclusion:
I would definitely recommend this book if you’re a mythology fan like me! However, try not to read this when you’re in a haste or if you don’t have much concentration, because the story will be very confusing and not fun at all. I’m a big fan of the feminism and the irony that’s woven into the story and I think this is a great retelling/addition to Greek mythology!

I am still digesting this book, however I truly loved it.

Claire North writes in such a beautifully descriptive way, and had me utterly consumed from the beginning of the tale.

My first experience with tale of Penelope and Ithaca - and it was a great one!

I would advise that this book may not be for the Greek mythos novice, knowing more information about the Trojan war and the many characters involved would certainly allow for an additional layer of enjoyment for the reader. (If you’re like me and you’ve only read Song of Achilles up until this point… you might need to search a few things and piece some people together!)

Over all, a fantastic read and cannot wait to hear more Greek Mythos retellings from North!

I had such high hopes for this story, but I struggled to make it through. The writing was overly complicated, and the storyline didn't flow as smoothly as I would have liked. The retelling of The Odyssey was highly anticipated. The POV was told by Hera instead of Penelope - who I wanted to hear from. It did allow a more extensive investigation of the facts, but I think it took away from the emotion of the events surrounding her.

I didn't feel any connection to the characters or the events - I felt highly disinterested in the characters and the events I've previously fallen in love with and felt that it hurt the story. I felt flat upon finishing it.

This is a great retelling of the the Greek myth surrounding Odysseus and Penelope. I knew little of this story but found it easy to understand and well constructed. The writing flows beautifully and clearly. I will read more of Clare North.
With thanks to netgalley for the pre release.

Thank you to the publisher Orbit and to NetGalley for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

What Claire North has done with Ithaca is nothing short of incredible. Rather than just doing a retelling of the myth of Odysseus, she has sought to tell the story of Penelope, his wife, and the twenty years she spent warding off men from her kingdom while she waited for him to come home from Troy. To describe this book as simply as that does it a massive disservice, instead of using the obvious Penelope perspective, the entire thing is narrated by the Greek goddess Hera, who offers a humorous and lyrical viewpoint on everything that is happening around Penelope and the rest of Ithaca.

This book flowed so quickly and easily, with all of the characters feeling real even if you don't know that much about Greek mythology. I especially loved Hera's perspective on her relationship with the other gods (in particular Zeus, Artemis and Athena) and how she saw the treatment of the women she protected. I can't wait to read the next book and see what might come next, even though I know the myths. Claire North has added a depth to the women of these stories that the original tales never focused on, and I loved it.

What can Claire North not do?

Great characters, great plot and beautiful writing. Hera as the narrative voice was genius. I will say that it took me some time to get into it, but once I was hooked, I couldn't put it down.

When i was a child I remember a tv version of the Italian tv. The actress, Irene Papas, died some days ago and her face will always be the face of Penelope for me.
I liked this retelling and like the voice of Hera and how she look at human events. This a choral story as there's Penelope and there's other women.
The author did a good job in developing the characters and they're quite strong. Penelope is a very clever and strong woman, Homer created an archetypal heroine and the author respect this status.
I enjoyed it and it strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I really loved this retelling of the waiting of Penelope for Odysseos. Loved Hera´s take on all these women's lives, how they rule without ruling… Enjoyed the writing a lot.
It was a 4,5 stars for me!

Ithaca was a perfect portrait of women who left behind their men. It was powerful and beautifully written. The book itself narrated by Hera, which I found really entaching

Another strong addition to the recent series of retellings. Claire North is a great writer, and after reading the First 15 Lives of Harry August it's interesting to see how varied her portfolio is becoming. Loves reading more about Penelope and her life as ignored in the traditional stories.

In a highly saturated genre (the Greek mythological retelling), it's really a question of what new perspective or twist a new book brings. I didn't think anything was particularly wrong with it, but it didn't captivate me as I had hoped.

This retelling from the POV of Penelope was so refreshing, rather than the usual focus of Odysseus. It did take me a while to get into the narrative as there are a lot of characters introduced quite early on and it felt slow at times, I've read quite a bit of Greek mythology and I found it tough to keep on top of what was happening. I did enjoy the use of more secondary characters but I don't feel like all of them were necessary/added something to the story but it's a different take on a well known story and a decent read if you like ancient history/Greek mythology but perhaps be wary of needing to remind yourself who people are!

Ithaca is another novel in the current trend of giving a voice to the women of Greek mythology. The story focusses on Ithaca, Odysseus' island kingdom, in the eighth year after the end of the Trojan war. Odysseus hasn't yet returned home, and nobody apart from the gods knows whether he is alive or dead; meanwhile a large number of aspirant suitors to his queen Penelope's hand lounge around his palace, taking full advantage of the unshakeable laws of hospitality to eat, drink and feast every night at Penelope's expense.

You would expect the dominant voice to be that of Penelope, but the story is instead told by none other than Hera, ageing (if such a thing is possible for a goddess) queen of the gods. And what a narrative voices hers is - commenting cryptically on what she observes the mortals doing, shamelessly favouring some over others and women over men, and regaling us with wonderfully acerbic asides about her fellow goddesses Athena and Artemis. Thanks to this the Olympian gods' pettinesses, jealousies and rivalries take as much of a central place in the narrative as do the human affairs which are the main subject.

These affairs centre on the problem of how a community of women, boys and old men can deal with a series of raids ostensibly by Illyrian pirates, who however show little interest in negotiating protection terms and carry weapons which are very definitely Greek. Penelope concentrates on ruling unobtrusively and keeping all her suitors politely at bay, knowing that choosing one amongst them will unleash a bloody territorial war. Things get even more complicated when Agamemnon's children Orestes and Elektra turn up, seeking vengeance on their mother Clytemnestra who has murdered her husband and fled after he caught her in flagrante with her poet lover. And meanwhile Penelope's 16-year-old son Telemachus is keen to prove his manhood by rejecting his mother and fighting the pirates to show he is a worthy son to his hero father.

This is a truly worthy addition to the genre, and the device of having Hera tell the story is innovative and very successful. Through her comments and observations she paints a picture of a world where women, whether mortal or not, must use their wits and cunning in relative silence if they are to manage their affairs and kingdoms successfully. A hugely enjoyable read and highly recommended.

I enjoyed this alternative take on the Odysseus story whereby the male hero takes a backseat and his wife Penelope is foregrounded instead, ably supported by her female associates. I liked how it was narrated by a goddess, Hera, which brought in the mythical dimension to the tale. It’s beautifully written and will satisfy anyone with an interest in Ancient Greek myths and legends.