A stunning reimagining of the Oedipus and Antigone stories told from the perspectives of the women the myths overlooked.
Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She is the author of The Amber Fury, which was shortlisted for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year award, and a non-fiction book about Ancient History, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. She has written and presented two series of the BBC Radio 4 show, Natalie 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.
Natalie Haynes takes on Sophocles in her vivid and affecting second
novel -- Fiction to look out for in 2017 * Observer *
Glorious, gripping and brutal . . . I loved it -- Victoria
Derbyshire
New life is breathed into a powerful ancient story through Natalie
Haynes's clever and vivid story telling. -- Martha Kearney
Nearly every page of Natalie Haynes's The Children of
Jocasta could stand alone as poetry. This is a visceral,
engrossing, and meticulously-crafted reimagining of two of the most
important stories of all time. A truly remarkable feat -- Dr Amanda
Foreman
In this gripping novel, Haynes takes us to the breaking heart of
one epically dysfunctional family and makes heroines of those
previously doomed to be spectators of their own tragedy -- Damian
Barr, author of Maggie & Me
Haynes is master of her trade, crafting perfect sentences and
believable characters who speak and think in delicately nuanced
language. [She] succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our
oldest stories to show how remarkably little basic human
relationships and emotions have changed * Telegraph *
Haynes's fascination with this long vanished world is evident in
every line . . . Her Thebes... is vividly captured: a place of hard
light and sharp shadows, dust, fountains and dry heat. * Guardian
*
Atmospherically evoking a landscape of longed-for lakes and dark
mountains, Haynes also subtly explores the "space between us and
them" - between rulers and the people; parents and children; our
personas and most secret selves * Observer *
A wonderful and inventive take on an ancient tale -- Antonia Senior
* The Times *
Haynes has written her own version of the tragedy, finding new
space in the narrative by looking at it through the eyes of two
characters neglected by antiquity: Oedipus's mother/bride Jocasta
and their youngest daughter Ismene . . . Some of this novel's
greatest satisfactions come from the way Haynes translates the
story out of the mythic and into a naturalistic register of love,
loss and ambition . . . The ancient city state comes vividly alive
in Haynes's hands, and canny deviations from the archetypal outline
keep the suspense going. In The Children of Jocasta, Haynes
has written a fine new story between the old lines. * Spectator
*
A passionate and gripping account of a famously dysfunctional
family. Haynes balances a fresh take on the material with a deep
love for her sources, wearing her scholarship with grace, and
giving new voice to the often-overlooked but fascinating Jocasta
and Ismene. -- Madeline Miller, Orange Prize winning author of
The Song of Achilles
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