Circe is a wonder, a joy. We're all familiar with the story of Odysseus, that most cunning of men, as battled a cruel fate ordained by jealous gods and various evil monsters, only to come home and find his house overtaken by suitors, but what of the women?

Circe was one of the lesser Greek immortals, daughter of Helios and Perse, and Miller imagines her a strange and lonely child, growing up in the cruel and wondrous age of mythology. The episode in the Odyssey is a key moment, but just one in a lifetime that stretches far beyond any mortal's. Circe finds magic, abuses it, is exiled, and then comes into her own power and acceptance. I read this in one gulp, a single glorious rush of words.