Songs of Penelope

Claire North

Seventeen years after the men of Ithaca departed for the Trojan War, the island’s women have been left to govern, endure, and preserve a fragile kingdom. Queen Penelope faces mounting pressure as rumors of Odysseus’s death draw ambitious suitors toward her throne—and every possible response threatens to reshape the future of Ithaca. Reimagining Homer’s epic from the perspectives of the women who remain behind, this richly atmospheric novel explores power, loyalty, survival, and the cost of stories told by and about men.

Claire North

In the second volume of a powerful reimagining of the Odyssey, Penelope struggles to preserve Ithaca’s fragile peace while the long-absent king’s household faces mounting political and personal threats. As rival powers circle and old loyalties are tested, the women of the House of Odysseus must navigate ambition, grief, duty, and the cost of survival in a world shaped by men and war. Richly atmospheric and sharply intelligent, the novel transforms familiar Greek myth into a compelling story of power, resilience, and the voices history has too often overlooked.