The 12 best novels based on Greek myths

It seems faintly ridiculous to declare that Greek mythology is having a moment, given that these ancient stories have inspired and moved us for thousands of years. But it is certainly experiencing heightened interest this summer – thanks to Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film adaptation of The Odyssey, sales of Homer’s 2,700-year-old epic have rocketed. Once you’re finished reading that original poem, there are plenty of contemporary retellings of the classics to add to your reading pile, from smouldering queer love stories to psychological thrillers to feminist reframings. These are the 12 best. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones You wouldn’t necessarily know unless someone told you before reading it that An American Marriage is, as Jones has put it, in conversation with The Odyssey. The Women’s Prize-winning novel is a heartfelt page-turner about wrongful imprisonment and race, as the lives of newlyweds Roy and Celestial are ripped apart when he is convicted of a crime he did not commit. But with its portrayal of a man forced to live away from his home and his wife, the impact this has on their marriage and what happens when he suddenly does come back, it’s a clear successor to the Homer story – a gripping and emotionally rich update for the present day. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller If you’re going to read one mythological retelling, make it this one. By recounting the story of The Iliad from the perspective of Achilles’s lover Patroclus, it casually serves up a groundbreaking new slant on a Homeric epic – and gives us one of the most romantic books ever published to boot. Miller has said she wanted to probe what it means to be a good person in a violent world with the novel – which won the 2012 Women’s Prize – and it feels searingly relevant to the contemporary age, with so much to say about the brutality and senseless cost of war. A masterpiece. Mythos by Stephen Fry The first in Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths series, Mythos is an excellent initiation into the world of ancient legends. The comedian and broadcaster has updated the myths with his trademark wit and flair; Mythos takes us through the early history of the gods and mortals – the birth of Athena, the abduction of Persephone – in a winningly accessible conversational style. The three other books in the series are worth reading too – the most recent, Odyssey, will appeal if you’ve been bitten by The Odyssey bug. Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati Clytemnestra has generally been depicted as a villainous figure for her murder of her husband Agamemnon. Here, Casati gives us her side of the story, as a queen who quietly plots revenge on the murderous man she is forced to marry, after he – appallingly – uses their daughter as a human sacrifice. What marks out the novel is how well Casati observes human relationships – from Clytemnestra’s childhood bond with her sister Helen (later to be Helen of Troy) to the blood-boiling hatred she harbours towards the barbaric men in her life. Fuelled by heartbreak and desperate fury, this is an electric retelling. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Rick Riordan’s myth-inspired Percy Jackson series may be technically aimed at children – but they’re also a joyous way for adults to digest some ancient tales too. Set in a 21st-century world inhabited by Greek gods, Riordan’s first adventure, published in 2005, follows Perseus “Percy” Jackson, who goes from being a normal teenager to finding out he is a demigod, the son of Poseidon. What’s more, it seems Zeus believes Percy has stolen his all-powerful lightning bolt. Our hero and his friends must race against time to catch the true thief and escape Zeus’s wrath. Tremendous fun – and there’s a TV adaptation on Disney + to enjoy as well. The King Must Die by Mary Renault Theseus has never known for certain who his father is. But when he discovers he is in fact the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, he sets out to claim his royal destiny. It’s a white-knuckle quest that ends with his infamous attempt to slay the Minotaur in the labyrinthine palace of King Minos in Crete. Published in 1958, Renault’s novel – which inspired Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games – is an enduringly brilliant coming-of-age story, psychologically astute and richly evocative of the classical world. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes A Thousand Ships is perhaps the ultimate example of the current fashion in publishing for feminist retellings of ancient myths. It doesn’t just dig into the psyche of one woman. Instead, we get the perspectives of all of the women unlucky enough to be caught up in the Trojan War in Haynes’ all-female retelling of The Iliad. We hear from goddesses and queens, widows and sea nymphs, as Haynes weaves a beautiful, subversive tapestry of women’s lives – and the voices and stories history has written out. Everything Under by Daisy Johnson Daisy Johnson’s debut novel Everything Under made her the youngest-ever person to be nominated for the Booker when it made the shortlist in 2018, when she was 27. Updating the Oedipus myth for modern-day Oxford, the story centres on a young woman searching for her disappeared mother. It has been 16 years since Gretel last saw Sarah, who raised her on the canals in a childhood filled with secret languages and fears of a strange watery creature known as “the Bonak”. Gretel’s bid for reunion brings to the surface family secrets and dark prophecies, in an eerie and supremely atmospheric debut. The Porpoise by Mark Haddon Mark Haddon may be forever known as the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but he is also a wonderful reimaginer of mythology, from his short story collection The Pier Falls to 2024’s Greek myth-inspired anthology Dogs and Monsters. He draws on ancient tales to the greatest effect in his shimmering 2019 novel, The Porpoise. A reworking of Shakespeare’s play Pericles, itself inspired by the much older legend of the young prince Apollonius, it follows a young woman who finds solace from her abusive childhood by telling herself stories inspired by all the mythology she reads. When a would-be suitor challenges her father to a fight, the line between reality and her imaginings blurs – to thrilling, immensely transporting effect. The Secret History by Donna Tartt Tartt’s literary sensation, inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae, centres on a group of New England classics students whose fervour for enacting ancient Dionysian rites leads to them becoming involved in the murder of a classmate. Glittering with deft observations about youth, power and toxic friendship, it’s a treat of a read – whether you’ve never encountered it before, or are racing through it for the 10th time. Circe by Madeline Miller This is the second Madeline Miller book on the list – but I make no apology for that. The author’s bewitching novel more than earns its place. Offering an irresistible feminist angle on Circe, the sorceress from The Odyssey who turns its hero’s men into pigs, it teems with breathtakingly clever insights into trauma, power, resilience and, most movingly, mortality. Years after first reading it, I still think about it all the time. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker Another Iliad retelling – this time from the vantage point of Briseis, the woman awarded to Achilles after he sacks one of the towns neighbouring Troy, and over whom Agamemnon and Achilles quarrel in the ego-clash at the core of the poem.Barker proved herself masterful at charting soldiers’ trauma in her First World War Regeneration trilogy, and she is just as unflinching in her depiction of the horrors of the female experience of war here – the rape, the enslavement, the mutilating, terrible grief. A fierce and important novel that stays with you.