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As she is swept into a passionate affair, in defiance of Artemis's warning, she begins to question the goddess's true intentions. She provides vivid descriptions of Atalanta as a warrior, of her backbreaking, painful work rowing the vessel, as well as of her thrilling and excruciating foot races, wrestling matches, and archery competitions.
Atalanta is a character I’ve only read about briefly before, often neglected and downplayed in the male-led narrations, so I was looking forward to seeing her adventures from her perspective. I knew the character of Meleager from the story of the Calydonian Boar Hunt, and I really drew on Ovid’s description of this myth in the Metamorphoses. She is a young woman who has lived her life almost entirely untouched by the patriarchy, and so she has never been taught that she is less valuable or important than a man.Her third novel, Atalanta, tells the story of the only female Argonaut and is a Number One Sunday Times bestseller. In her newest release, we follow Atalanta – raised in the forest by a bear, Atalanta is a favourite of the goddess Artemis. After thirteen years as a high school English teacher, she wrote ARIADNE which tells the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne - the woman who made it happen. In between, she spent thirteen years as an English teacher, sharing a love of literature and creative writing with her students. I felt that growing up unconstrained by any of the usual restrictions imposed on girls and women gave her a freedom to realise her full potential and the confidence to never question herself.
So when Artemis tasks her to join the heroic quest of Jason and his Argonauts, Atalanta is eager to join the adventure and bring glory to her goddess. I don’t know if it was the first myth I loved, but the first Greek myth book I remember being utterly captivated by was Roger Lancelyn-Green’s children’s novel The Tale of Troy. From the beloved, bestselling author of Elektra and Ariadne, a reimagining of the myth of Atalanta, a fierce huntress raised by bears and the only woman in the world's most famous band of heroes, the Argonauts.When Princess Atalanta is born, a daughter rather than the son her parents hoped for, she is left on a mountainside to die. There was nothing sweeter to me in the world than the sound of her delighted laughter when I hit the mark. About the Author: Thanks to a lifelong fascination with Ancient Greek mythology, Jennifer Saint read Classical Studies at King’s College, London.
Jennifer Saint deftly draws the reader into the legends of Atalanta, swift huntress and favorite of Artemis, bringing the world of ancient Greece alive. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life. Her novel Frieda’s Song was a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award, Historical Fiction.Even though I've heard of Jason and the Argonauts, besides the fact that their goal was to obtain the Golden Fleece (thanks, Percy Jackson! There was Phiale, who, in the summer months when the water ran low, could always coax more to flow from the springs even if they had dwindled to a trickle, while Crocale drifted gracefully across the earth, flowers blooming in her wake. I appreciate and admire, Jennifer’s knowledge and creativity in providing us, with new perspectives for the roles of women in classical history, long may it continue.