Writers Recommend: Jennifer Saint

Jennifer's pick of her favourite books on Greek myth

Here we are, Thursday already, another week is almost over and we are that bit closer to Spring, yet there is just enough time to squeeze in another one of my Writers Recommend interviews.

This week, I’m talking to Jennifer Saint. The eagle-eyed among you may remember her from my 12 Days of Christmas Writing Advice, Jennifer was Day 12 and you can catch up here if you missed it, and her story is one of my absolute favourites. On New Year’s Day 2019, she gave herself permission to write. One simple act that had a huge impact. Fast forward two years and her debut novel, Ariadne, was sitting in the bestsellers lists (you can order Ariadne here).

Since then she has published her second novel, Elektra, that those of you who visited my pop-up bookshop will remember seeing in store in glorious hardback. But today sees the publication of Elektra in paperback (which you can order here) and what better way to celebrate that but to hear Jennifer talk about her own work, plus her four favourite books on Greek myths.

Fans of Jennifer’s will also be pleased to know that her third book, Atalanta, will be released in April, and you can pre-order it here.

So, without further ado, let’s hear from Jennifer herself. At the bottom of the page is my interview with Jenny that you can watch or listen to. But here are the books she has chosen and a couple of lines about why she loves them so much:

Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill

Jennifer says: “Nikita Gill is a poet and this is a collection of poems which charts Greek mythology from the creation myth through beyond the fall of Olympus and imagines where the gods would have ended up. Some of the poems are incredibly poignant, incredibly beautiful and tragic, and some have this wicked, dark humour running through them. For example, we meet Aries as this drunk in a bar who has stopped seeing this therapist — they all need to have therapy! Hera ends up running a refuge for abused women. It’s a really interesting and original view of all of these immortals.”

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Jennifer says: “I would always, always recommend this novel. There are so many way of telling the Greek myths from female perspectives, but there are other ways to approach this very well known myth and in this book the story is told from Patroclus’ point of view, who is the lover of Achilles. We often hear about Achilles’ wrath and how he has the fury of the gods on the battlefield, but in this novel we see him from a tender, much more humanised perspective. It’s beautiful and lyrical and very tragic. This is a book I’ve come back to and revisted over and over again and the more I read it, the more the story of Achilles mother, Thetis, comes through.”

Greek Myths by Charlotte Higgins

Jennifer says: “People ask me which books they should read when they’ve read Elektra or Ariadne and want to know more about Greek myth. Charlotte Higgins tells it by way of these female characters who are weaving the stories onto tapestry. It’s such a clever way of telling the story, but I love how it also parallels the act of storytelling, because this was a way that these stories were passed down – by weaving and tapestry, from mothers to children. It reflects the way women’s voices can be taken away from them but they can still find a way of sharing what happened to them.”

The Giant Dark by Sarvat Hasin

Jennifer says: “This is a modern retelling, set in the contemporary world, it doesn’t require a knowledge of Greek myth, but if you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice it’s an added bonus. What Sarvat Hasin has done is flipped the genders so Orpheus is a female rock star, and the characer of Eurydice is her male muse. It’s so original, so clever and it’s got this dreamy intensity throughout the novel. It’s very dark and deals with fan frenzy and adoration and putting celebrity on pedestals, but it’s all so subtly done.”

You can, of course, buy all the books Jennifer has selected in my online bookshop, and they will be with you within 48 hours. Some people have even bought the whole curation to give themselves a new year project, and you can do that here.

A final reminder that you can buy or pre-order all of Jenny’s books in my online bookshop: Ariadne, Elektra and Atalanta. They have such beautiful covers, I wouldn’t blame you for wanting all three, and of course the storytelling is sublime.

Plus, super fans of Greek myths among you might be interested to hear that Jennifer is hosting a writing retreat to Athens in March, and you can find out more about that here.

And if you’ve enjoyed hearing what Jennifer has to say about these books, here is our full interview.

• Remember that you can still support The Book Room by buying online while I look for a new place to pop up, and you can send me custom orders here for any book and I’ll aim to get them to you within 24-48 hours.