Myths, Legends & Epics

The Odyssey → Circe

Madeline Miller's Circe reimagines the world of Homer's The Odyssey by taking a character who appears only briefly in the original epic and placing her at the center of her own story. In The Odyssey, Circe is a powerful goddess and enchantress whom Odysseus encounters during his long journey home from the Trojan War. In Circe, Miller expands that encounter into a much larger story, exploring Circe's childhood, her relationships with the gods, her exile, and the experiences that shape her into the woman Odysseus eventually meets. The novel brings many familiar figures from Greek mythology—including Odysseus, Penelope, Telemachus, and Hermes—into a story told primarily from Circe's perspective. While The Odyssey is fundamentally Odysseus's epic journey, Circe asks what the story might look like from the perspective of a woman who was only a supporting figure in Homer's poem. Miller preserves elements of the ancient mythology while giving Circe greater agency, complexity, and a voice of her own.

It is less a retelling of The Odyssey itself than a reimagining of its mythology—taking a familiar character and asking what her story might have been when no one was listening.