Divine Would possibly by Natalie Haynes
We are actually in a golden age of delusion retellings. Everybody and their mom’s brother has been making an attempt their palms at these myth-inspired tales, however few authors are nearly as good as Natalie Haynes. A Thousand Ships, her retelling of the autumn of Troy, made her identify right here within the U.S. (She’d already written different delusion retellings, which had been solely launched within the UK.) She possesses a singular manner of viewing these age-old tales, teasing out concepts that make readers take into consideration acquainted characters in entire new methods.
Whereas Haynes is extra recognized for her fiction, Divine Would possibly is nonfiction, with every chapter analyzing completely different goddesses and their tales. Haynes steps again and asks, who’s telling these ladies’s tales? When are these tales being instructed? How would these tales have been acquired in historical occasions versus how are they perceived now? Haynes’ holistic manner of viewing legendary goddesses invitations readers to reexamine their very own assumptions about these divine figures.
Haynes’ prose is intimate, like a good friend chatting with you over espresso. She’s humorous, charming, and heartwarming—typically all in the identical paragraph. In a world saturated with delusion retellings and reimaginings, Haynes’ work stands out time after time, establishing her as probably the greatest within the subject. All the pieces she touches is gold.