Historical Greek Myth Fiction

Follow Odysseus after he leaves the fallen city of Troy and takes ten long dramatic years - battling monsters, the temptations of goddesses and suffering the curse of Poseidon - to voyage home to his wife Penelope on the island of Ithaca.

In this spellbinding new collection, Charlotte Higgins reinterprets some of the most enduring stories of all time. Here are myths of the creation, of Heracles and Theseus and Perseus, the Trojan war and its origins and aftermaths, tales of Thebes and Argos and Athens. There are stories of love and desire, adventure and magic, destructive gods, helpless humans, fantastical creatures, resourceful witches and the origins of birds and animals. 

When first published, Walker’s versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey attracted attention for the quality of the writing. Multi-award-winning author Gillian Cross makes two of the greatest stories in the world come alive for children in her strong, clear, deceptively simple retellings, which are faithful to the spirit and structure of Homer’s epic poems, and this new bind-up in a friendly format comes complete with an introduction.

In Greek mythology, love is the greatest punishment of all. Repulsed by her ugly newborn, Hera throws him into the sea, where he shatters his ankle. As darkness looms, Thetis saves the wounded child and raises him in her underwater grotto. Hephaestus is the only Olympian whose injuries never heal, and Zeus adds to his burden by sentencing him to life with Aphrodite. Unhappily married to the adulterous goddess of love, he is fated to repeat his childhood pattern of rejection.

You are born to a king, but marry a tyrant. You stand helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. You play the part, fooling enemies who deny you justice. Slowly, you plot.

The great city of Troy is under siege as Greek heroes Achilles and Agamemnon wage bloody war over a stolen woman. In the Greek camp, another woman is watching and waiting: Briseis. She was a queen of this land until Achilles sacked her city and murdered her husband and sons. Now she is Achilles' concubine: a prize of battle. Briseis is just one among thousands of women backstage in this war - the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead - all of them voiceless in history.

When a daughter is born to the King of Arcadia, she brings only disappointment. Left exposed on a mountainside, the defenceless infant Atalanta is left to the mercy of a passing mother bear and raised alongside the cubs under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis. Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason's band of Argonauts. But can she carve out her own place in the legends in a world made for men?

When Hekate's tyrannical father - a powerful mage - makes one demand too many, Hekate flees to the Caves of the Dead, where her father's magic cannot reach. But the Caves are protected by a spell of terror and revulsion. To remain there without going mad, Hekate reluctantly takes on a second binding - to the Caves themselves - which will kill her if she fails to satisfy the forces that rule them.

When gods still walked the Earth, a king could pray for a sign and have a white bull rise from the sea to confirm his claim to the throne. But a god's price was high, and when Minos did not keep his promise to the god Poseidon, the god meddled with Minos' wife...and the Minotaur, a child with the head of a bull, was born. The question is, did Poseidon intend his son to be worshiped as a new god, or is he the god's curse on Knossos, a monster that will destroy it?

The classical Greek intellectual tradition pervades nearly every aspect of our modern Western civilization. Our logic and science, our philosophy, politics, literature, architecture, and art are all indebted to the ancient inhabitants of the small mountainous Mediterranean country. And the powerful myths of the Greeks, refined by Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, and the great Greek dramatists, still resonate at the core of our culture.

When 12-year-old Rhianna and her younger sister, Eleri, are thrown out of their home by their cruel stepmother, they must find food and shelter. Appealing to King Prasutagus in the name of the goddess Morrigan, they are rejected - but then Queen Boudica takes them into her household. As Rhianna settles into this new life, she learns that there's not only kindness in Boudica - there's a darkness waiting to be unleashed, and the Romans will suffer for their crimes against her. A great battle is looming.... 

This reissue of the 1919 classic combines the immortal stories from Homer's Iliad and Odyssey into one glorious saga of heroism and magical adventure. Beloved by generations, Padraic Colum's masterful retelling of these epic adventures is remarkably fresh, consistently spellbinding, and unmatched for its richness and poetry.

The Adventures of Odysseus is the story of what happened after the Trojan War when Odysseus, the most cunning of all the Greek heroes, left Troy and made his way back home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. It was first told by a poet named Homer nearly 3,000 years ago and is retold in this new version especially for younger listeners.

From a smelly watering hole deep in the heart of the Serengeti to the ferocious clamor of the Colosseum, join Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie of friends as they gear up to be...GLADIATORS! Only if they win the love of the Roman crowds will they win back their freedom. But do Julius and his pals have what it takes to succeed in a world where only the meanest and toughest survive?

There was once a time, nearly four thousand years ago, when the tall towers of a city called Troy reached gleaming into the sky; when its proud king fought against an invading army in a desperate siege.

Troy: city of gold, gatekeeper of the east, haven of the god-born and the lucky, a city destined to last a thousand years. But the Fates have other plans—the Fates, and a woman named Helen. In the shadow of Troy's gates, all must be reborn in the greatest war of the ancient world: slaves and queens, heroes and cowards, seers and kings . . . and these are their stories.

Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history's mightiest warriors. The fourth book in a new time-travelling series - perfect for fans of Beast Quest. When ten-year-old Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, a young Egyptian mummy who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. To break an ancient curse, the duo must travel back in time to find six hidden amulets - battling Gladiators, Knights, Greeks, Vikings, Pirates and Egyptian Warriors!

In Greek myth, Alcestis is known as the ideal wife; she loved her husband so much that she died and went to the underworld in his place. But who was Alcestis before she was married? Other than her love for Admetus, what circumstances led her to make this ultimate sacrifice? And what happened to her in the three days she spent in the underworld?

Bulfinch's Mythology is the ultimate collection of myths and legends that have inspired countless generations. This timeless masterpiece is divided into three volumes: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne, each of which is a must-listen for anyone who loves mythology and legends.

Join Tom on an incredible treasure hunt through time and battle history's mightiest warriors. The first book in a new time-travelling series - perfect for fans of Beast Quest. When 10-year-old Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, a young Egyptian mummy who has been imprisoned for thousands of years. To break an ancient curse, the duo must travel back in time to find six hidden amulets - battling Gladiators, Knights, Greeks, Vikings, Pirates and Egyptian Warriors!