Book review: Ithaca by Claire North
I’ve never read The Odyssey, but for my degree I had to study James Joyce’s Ulysses, which involved a couple of lectures detailing how it follows the structure of Homer’s classic. I’ve intended ever since to give The Odyssey a go but 20 years have passed now. I suspect the closest I will come is modern reworks, including those that tell just part of the story. And the best I’ve read so far is Ithaca by Claire North.
Strictly, you could argue this isn’t so much a retelling as filling in the gaps. Penelope is the star of the story, while her absent husband Odysseus is the background character often mentioned but never seen. Penelope runs the island of Ithaca quietly, hiding her wisdom behind her official (male) advisers, turning to her unofficial band of (female) advisers in secret.
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