The Children of Jocasta

Author(s): Natalie Haynes

Fiction

Thebes is a city in mourning, still reeling from a devastating attack of plague that invaded every home and left the survivors devastated and fearful. This is the Thebes that Jocasta has known her entire life, a city ruled by a king--her husband-to-be.


Jocasta struggles through this miserable marriage until she is unexpectedly widowed--now free to choose her next husband, she selects the handsome, youthful Oedipus. When whispers emerge of an unbearable scandal, the very society that once lent Jocasta its support seems determined to destroy her.


Ismene is a girl in mourning, longing for the golden days of her youth--days spent lolling in the courtyard garden, reading and reveling in her parents' happiness and love. Now she is an orphan, and the target of a murder plot, attacked within the very walls of the palace. As the deadly political competition swirls around her, she must uncover the root of the plot - and reveal the truth of the curse that has consumed her family.


The novel is based on Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone, two of Classical Greece's most compelling tragedies. Told in intersecting narratives, this feminist reimagining of Sophocles' classic plays brings life and voice to the women who were too often forced to the background of their own stories. It is compulsively entertaining fiction that recasts these familiar stories for the twenty-first century reader.


 

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Natalie Haynes takes on Sophocles in her vivid and affecting second novel -- Fiction to look out for in 2017 Observer New life is breathed into a powerful ancient story through Natalie Haynes's clever and vivid story telling. Martha Kearney Glorious, gripping and brutal ... I loved it Victoria Derbyshire Nearly every page of Natalie Haynes's The Children of Jocasta could stand alone as poetry. This is a visceral, engrossing, and meticulously-crafted reimagining of two of the most important stories of all time. A truly remarkable feat Dr Amanda Foreman In this gripping novel, Haynes takes us to the breaking heart of one epically dysfunctional family and makes heroines of those previously doomed to be spectators of their own tragedy Damian Barr, author of Maggie & Me

General Fields

  • : 9781509836161
  • : Pan Macmillan
  • : Mantle
  • : January 2017
  • : April 2017
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Natalie Haynes
  • : 304