From the author of the critically acclaimed Ithaca - A Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year - comes an exquisite and gripping new tale that breathes life into ancient myth.

This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before. On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power.

Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra. Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood.

Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind. Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him.

His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims. Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife.

And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own. Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.