That was Serendipitous

On my last solo trip south BO (before the operation) I fumbled my way to York where, amongst other things, I had arranged to meet a friend in the afternoon, and as I was a bit early I popped into Waterstones (as you do, especially if you live over a 100 miles from your nearest branch) and leafed through the TLS for a short while. It included an extract from a new novel (Circe) by an author I hadn't  previously come across (Madeline Miller), which I really enjoyed, and I made a mental note to try and get hold of it. And then forgot all about it. 

Fast forward several months and I'm spending the day with my DD friends and the OH is off into Leeds and he asks if there's anything I'd like. I remember all about Circe, and I'm out of reading material with me for the way back so I suggest he gets me that. There's a phone call in the middle of the afternoon to say they haven't got Circe, but they have got Miller's  earlier book A Song for Achilles and shall he get that instead. And I said yes. 

A Song for Achilles is the story of Achilles (yes, really!) told from the point of view of his friend Patroclus, and it starts long before the events of the Iliad but carries on to include them, right up until Achilles death and its aftermath. And if you're familiar with the Iliad and wondering how Patroclus manages to tell us all that - well there's a neat ploy used for that. It's obvious, but its skilfully done. 

I enjoyed the book very much although I thought having three pages at the beginning with quotes from starry eyed reviewers was perhaps over-egging the pudding; it was good, but it wasn't that good! When I'd finished it I checked the library for Circe, but they only had it on CD, so I splashed out on a Kindle version and read it last week. 

I thought it a huge step up from the Achilles book. Exciting, educational (there were lots of things about Circe here that I never knew), thought provoking and beautifully written.  Miller's prose flows in a beautifully controlled way; she can relax, move and excite the reader equally well and she has a depth of imagination that helps her see, and show, the reality of the emotions behind the mythic scenarios with which she deals, and from there to the deeper questions of the nature and benefits of humanity versus divinity. 

If you like this sort of thing, and you haven't already read them, they're worth checking out.