"A labyrinthine fantasy inspired by the Greek myth of Penelope's hanged maids"
In Lies We Sing to the Sea, debut novelist Sarah Underwood reimagines the Greek myth of Penelope's twelve hanged maids from Homer’s The Odyssey to present a richly detailed, sweeping story that will satisfy latter-day fans of fantastical fiction. Teeming with tragedy, romance and big themes — fate, sacrifice, desire and female agency — it relates an epic quest to break a curse and exact revenge.
While some superstitious townsfolk had whispered about her having “mystical powers”, seventeen-year-old Leto has lived a largely unremarkable life in the kingdom of Ithaca, a place where twelve maidens are hanged each spring as a gift to Poseidon, god of the sea. All that changes when Leto’s time to be hanged comes, and she defies the gallows by waking up on Pandou island. She’s discovered by Melantho, keeper of Pandou, who buries the eleven dead maidens with honey and wine, before explaining that Leto’s survival presents a rare opportunity to break the hanging curse —“We need to kill the prince of Ithaca”.
After the swift set-up of this context, and after Leto initially refuses her heroine’s call to adventure, Melantho drops the bombshell that she’s too bound to Pandou to leave the island, which means Leto must bear this task alone. And so the stage is set for a twisting tale of lust, love, loss and sacrifice, told in a style that melds modern snappiness with timeless atmosphere.
| Primary Genre | Romance / Relationship Stories |
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