The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Homer’s Odyssey is not the only version of the story. And here, in this slim, spellbinding retelling, Margaret Atwood hands the microphone to the woman who has waited in the wings for three thousand years.

Penelope. Wife of Odysseus. Weaver of that famous, endless shroud. We all know she waited. But what was she really up to during those long, salt-swept years?

Atwood, the celebrated author of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin, draws on myth and folklore to give Penelope her voice at last. Alongside her, a chorus rises: the twelve maids, hanged for their supposed disloyalty. They chant, they sing, they haunt these pages. And they demand answers to the questions the old story never quite explained.

What led to the hanging of the maids? And what secrets did Penelope keep?

This is a clever, wry, and deeply human reimagining. Sharp-witted where it counts. Aching where it matters. Atwood peels back the polished surface of the myth to reveal all the inconsistencies underneath, then reshapes it into something wholly her own.

Part of the acclaimed Canongate Myth series, The Penelopiad is the kind of book you’ll finish in an afternoon and think about for weeks.

Perfect for lovers of classics, feminist retellings, and beautifully crafted literary fiction. Curl up with it on a gray, rainy day. Let the ocean hum outside while an ancient story finds new breath.

We’d love to help you discover it. Come linger a while.

Additional information