The Mother of All Witches

Circe

Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

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In Homer's "The Odyssey," Circe was a Greek goddess who turned Odysseus’ men into pigs. That one-time villainous act seems a bit more empowering today, doesn't it? Makes you wonder what was going through her mind as she transformed them.

Well today, Circe finally gets to tell her side of the story, thanks to Madeline Miller. Her previous novel, “The Song of Achilles,” was based on Homer’s Iliad. She’s back with a new novel about the woman Miller calls "the first witch in Western literature."

Here's Miller reading a selection from the story: