Ithaca

A Razor-Sharp Political Thriller Set on the Sun-Drenched Cliffs of Ithaca

In Homer’s *Odyssey*, Queen Penelope has long been enshrined as the archetypal symbol of passive wifely obedience, quietly weaving and unraveling her father-in-law’s funeral shroud for twenty long years while weeping in an upstairs chamber. In Ithaca, World Fantasy Award winner Claire North detonates that passive myth entirely, recasting Penelope as a ruthless, brilliant geopolitical strategist fighting an undercover war of survival. With every battle-hardened man either dead beneath the walls of Troy or lost upon treacherous seas, Ithaca’s survival rests squarely upon Penelope’s ability to manipulate the vicious, heavily armed suitors consuming her halls and threatening her young son Telemachus with cold-blooded assassination.

North makes the inspired artistic decision to narrate the novel through the eyes of Hera, the goddess of marriage and queen of Mount Olympus. Hera’s voice is sharp, world-weary, and deliciously sardonic, offering unsparing commentary on the fragile vanity of mortal men and the terrifying precariousness of women in the ancient Mediterranean world. Through her divine gaze, we watch Penelope operate a covert intelligence network comprising handmaidens, weavers, and pirate queens, using deliberate silence, carefully planted rumors, and razor-sharp diplomacy to pit rival warlords against one another and prevent outright civil war while her treacherous cousin Clytemnestra exacts vengeance across the sea, proving that political cunning is the sharpest blade in the ancient world.

Spanning nearly thirteen hours of gripping, suspenseful storytelling, Ithaca reads like a high-stakes palace thriller infused with feminist grit and classical authenticity. Catrin Walker-Booth’s brilliant voice work ensures that the tension never flags, making every whispered alliance, poisoned goblet, and midnight council pulse with mortal danger and political calculation. It is a stellar addition to any Historical Fiction library and a perfect companion to Circe, offering immense narrative payoff and lasting credit value for listeners fascinated by the hidden, unsung female machinery of classical antiquity.