‘With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism… her thoughtful portraits will linger with you long after the book is finished’ - Madeline Miller

‘Natalie Haynes is both a witty and an erudite guide. She wears her extensive learning lightly and deftly drags the Classics into the modern world’ - Kate Atkinson

‘Haynes combines a wide-ranging knowledge of the original myths with a gift for compelling narrative’ - The Times

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Bestselling author and stand up, Radio 4’s Natalie Haynes looks at the world of Greek myth and turns her focus on Olympus itself - and on the goddesses who lived there.
 
We meet Athene, who sprang fully formed from her father’s brow (giving Zeus a killer headache in the process), goddess of war, guardian of the city named for her and sacred to her, and provider of wise counsel. Here, too, is Aphrodite, born of the foam (or, some sources say, sperm released from a castrated Titan’s testicles), the most beautiful of all the Olympian goddesses, dispensing desire and inspiring longing – but with a nasty line in brutal punishment of those who displeased her. And then there is Hera, Zeus’s long-suffering wife, whose jealousy of his repeated dalliances with mortals, with nymphs, with other goddesses, led her to wreak elaborate and often painful revenge on those she felt had wronged her. Well, wouldn’t you?
 
We also meet Demeter, goddess of the harvest and mother of the hapless Persephone; Artemis, the huntress, virgin goddess of childbirth (Greek myth is full of confusion); the Muses, all nine of them; wide-bosomed Gaia, the earth goddess; and Hestia, goddess of domesticity but also of sacrificial fire.

Natalie will be signing copies of her books after the event. Her books for sale on the evening at a discounted price.

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NATALIE HAYNES is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of novels THE AMBER FURY, shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize; THE CHILDREN OF JOCASTA, a feminist retelling of the Oedipus and Antigone stories; A THOUSAND SHIPS (shortlisted for the Women’s Prize), a retelling of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective and STONE BLIND a re-telling of the Medusa story (long listed for the Women’s Prize); and non-fiction books THE ANCIENT GUIDE TO MODERN LIFE and PANDORA’S JAR about the women in Greek myths. She has written and presented seven series of the BBC Radio 4 show, NATALIES HAYNES STANDS UP FOR THE CLASSICS. In 2015, she was awarded the Classical Association Prize for her work in bringing Classics to a wider audience.

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