Ithaca by Claire North
This book was genuinely incredibly boring to read at the start. But I am of the opinion once you start you have to persevere and now that Iāve finished, I am so glad I did. The story takes place on Ithaca, in the time when the Trojan war is long over and Odysseus has not returned home to the island. Penelope rules with what she has, the women tend the island and the only men are the boisterous suitors, the few men who stayed and her petulant son Telemachus. The story is largely narrated by Hera, goddess of women and what a wonderful narrator she is. The story is told through the eyes of women which works to showcase the incapacity of the islandās men - the tantrums, the entitlement and the scheming. It is a refreshing read in that sense, to see something told from the female perspective, no pompousness that wouldāve surely come with a male perspective but the simple and harsh reality of it all that draws the reader in as the story progresses. The women of Ithaca are quietly strong, ready, resilient and resourceful and while the men wile away and dream up āmilitiasā, they are the real heroes of the island, especially in the last chapters when the āraidersā are completely annihilated by them and the old men are left useless and pondering who could have killed them (never suspecting the women of the island, typical). The twist with who was sending the raiders was a nice touch to the story as was his demise, but for me the best part of the novel was the cunning of the women, of Laneira and the relationships of them with eachother. There are 2 more books in the series but I doubt I will be reaching for them anytime soon as we all know how the story of Odysseus goes and because I have many more books to read before I purchase another. Overall I canāt see myself reaching for this book anytime soon but ultimately it was worth the read so yeah 7/10 I guess.














