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A dazzling, lyrical YA retelling of Greek myth, from Jessie Burton, internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse.
If I told you that I'd killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next?
Exiled to a far-flung island by the whims of the gods, Medusa has little company except the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. But when a charmed, beautiful boy called Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is disrupted with the force of a supernova, unleashing desire, love, betrayal...and destiny itself.
With stunning, full-color illustrations and a first person narrative illuminating the fierce, vulnerable, determined girl behind the myth, this astonishing retelling is perfect for readers of Circe, and brings the story of Medusa to life for a new generation.
"In this haunting reimagining of the myth of Medusa and Perseus, Burton positions the pair as teenagers swept up in the capricious gods' machinations, struggling to defy the destinies thrust upon them... Medusa's first-person voice is formally distant, hinting at her inner turmoil and experiences with misogynistic double standards. Lomenech Gill's angular, full-color illustrations add another layer of depth to the story." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Perseus' description of [Medusa] as a poet is also true of Burton's prose; aquatic and mythical but not overwrought, its beauty is reflected in Gill's sublime full-page illustrations. Rich in texture and color, they give the impression of a rediscovered ancient manuscript or mural...A smart reimagining of an ancient tale that questions old tropes." - Kirkus Reviews
"The dappled colors and sketchy lines of Gill's illustrations anchor the story with brilliant images of coiled snakes, wheeling birds, and undulating waves, with a creamy, yellowing background reminiscent of an ancient text. Hand this to teens looking for new layers of complexity in familiar figures." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"A beautiful and profound retelling. Burton's text and Lomenech Gill's art are a perfect match, offering a powerfully feminist, elegiac, and original twist on this old story. The book tackles pain and trauma without flinching, but its message is ultimately one of joy and hope." - Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles
"This book is a beautiful excavation, uncovering the girl beneath the gorgon, the power within the punished. Exquisitely told, Medusa stole my heart from its first fierce lines." - Mary Watson, author of The Wren Hut
This information about Medusa was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Wolf Marloh
Jessie Burton studied at the University of Oxford and then went on to the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She is the author of three novels for adults, The Miniaturist (2014), The Muse (2016) and The Confession (2019), and is both a Sunday Times no. 1 bestseller and a New York Times bestseller. The Miniaturist sold a million copies worldwide in its first year and has also been adapted for television by the BBC. Jessie is now published in forty languages. Her first children's story, The Restless Girls, was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.
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