Aphrodite's Blessings

"And I realized with a shock that he was never going to understand. He was a man," laments Atalanta about her overbearing father. Atalanta, Andromeda, and Psyche--three Greek heroines bound by love, or by the harsh bonds of a patriarchal society? In these feminist retellings of classic love stories, Clemence McLaren, author of Waiting for Odysseus and Inside the Walls of Troy, tells it like it really was for women back in the Greek day--early marriage followed by complete sacrifice to a husband's sometimes selfish will. But these women refuse to accept that fate, and try instead to somehow get around their father-chosen futures. The story of Atalanta, the haughty girl athlete who refused to marry, is turned into a poignant tale of an obedient daughter doing her best to please her arrogant father, despite his unreasonable demand that she compete with her suitors--to the death. Andromeda is reluctantly resigned to marrying her father's old fogy friend, until fate intervenes in the form of a giant sea monster and a dashing young hero. But it's poor Psyche, so beautiful that people worship her instead of the goddess Aphrodite, who has to confront the most unpleasant creature of all--an angry mother-in-law who also happens to have the power of Mount Olympus at her fingertips. Three women, three marriages, three stories that riot grrrls of today will easily relate to, thanks to McLaren's savvy way of showing how real Greek women were far from being seen as goddesses, and just as unlikely to be treated as such. Divinely recommended. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert


Genre: Young Adult Fiction