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book details / updated June 22, 2026

CIRCE

by Madeline Miller

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Miller's Circe takes a side character from the Odyssey and gives her centuries of her own story: exile, witchcraft, and an Odysseus who's far less heroic up close. It's a rare mythology retelling that holds up even for readers who already know how the myths end.

Cover of CIRCE by Madeline Miller.

why track this in moth

Circe pairs naturally with Miller's The Song of Achilles; Moth's library makes it easy to track both and compare her two takes on Greek myth side by side.

Book facts

Genre
Fiction, Historical, Ancient, Classics, Literary, War & Military
Publisher
Little, Brown
Published
April 10, 2018
Pages
400
Reading time
7 hr 57 min · ~19 nights at 25 min/day in Moth
ISBN
9780316556347
Language
en

Publisher's summary

"A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story," this #1 New York Times bestseller is "both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right" (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times). In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world. #1 New York Times bestseller -- named one of the best books of the year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, BuzzFeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider

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