Psyche and Eros

Psyche, a princess of Mycenae, is born under a prophecy that she will conquer a monster feared even by the gods. Her father raises her as a warrior, and she trains under the hero Atalanta, sure that she knows her destiny. Aphrodite, jealous of the girl's fame, sends her son Eros to curse Psyche with a love she can never have. Instead Eros pricks himself with his own arrow, and the two are drawn together just as the Trojan War begins and the heavens work to keep them apart.

Luna McNamara's debut novel retells the myth of Psyche and Eros as a feminist adventure, told in alternating chapters from both lovers' points of view. It weighs love in its many forms against the question of whether violence is the only kind of heroism. Readers who want a faithful version of Apuleius may find the changes to the myth large; those who enjoy the Greek myth retellings of Jennifer Saint or Madeline Miller will find a romance with a sword-and-bow heroine at the centre.