Alcestis-Katharine Beutner

Alcestis
Katharine Beutner
Soho, Feb 1 2010, $23.00
ISBN 9781569476178

In ancient Greece, King Admetus of Pherae fears death although he knows Hermes will be coming for him. On the other hand his wife Alcestis has known death from her birth. Her mother died giving birth to her and cursed her with her last words. That loss meant nothing but when her sister Hippothoe died that grief never left Alcestis.

When death comes for her spouse, he refuses to go and demands a sacrificial replacement to satisfy Hermes. He is stunned when his spouse agrees to journey into the Underworld. As Alcestis begins her trek, the court praises her as a martyr of love. She knows there is some truth to the accolades, but it is not love for her husband; instead Alcestis seeks Hippothoe. In the Underworld, she meets and finds true love with Persephone even as that overly muscled moron Heracles has come to take her home; a place she does not want to return to as Pherae is a gilded cage and she has learned to fly having tasted love and freedom to move around in the Underworld.

This terrific retelling of the Greek mythos adds incredible depth to the heroine who finds the Underworld liberating. Unlike her legend written by men, Katharine Beutner’s version adds the real motive for volunteering to die beyond the inane romantic notion and fills in a vivid telling of what happened in her three days in the Underworld. Although the ending feels rushed, fans will fully relish the story behind the legend.

Harriet Klausner