In Homer's account, Penelope's story is the salutary tale of the constant wife. It is she who rules Odysseus's kingdom of Ithaca during his twenty-year absence at the Trojan War; she who raises their wayward son and fends off over a hundred insistent suitors. When Odysseus finally returns - having vanquished monsters, slept with goddesses and endured many other well-documented hardships - he kills the suitors and also, curiously twelve of Penelope's maids.
In a splendid contemporary twist, Margaret Atwood tells the story through Penelope and her twelve hanged maids, asking: 'What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?' It's a dazzling, playful retelling, as wise and compassionate as it is haunting; as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing.
