Ariadne: The Mesmerising Sunday Times Bestselling Retelling of Ancient Greek Myth

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Ariadne, the Princess of Crete has loved to dance ever since she was young. She enjoys listening to the stories of heroes and gods that her nursemaids tell her about. But every year the Minotaur, who is trapped in the Labyrinth, requires a blood sacrifice. Then Theseus, the Prince of Athens comes to slay the Minotaur and she sees her chance to escape. Ariadne decides to help Theseus kill the Minotaur but her choice comes at a heavy cost. Will her decision end happily? What will happen to her sister Phaedra who doesn't escape with her? Phaedra, Ariadne’s younger sister, was also given a perspective throughout the novel and explored her life.... and you’d never guess how that ends *heavy sarcastic tone and pointed look* Broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes brilliantly retells the story of the Trojan war from an all-female perspective. She presents a kaleidoscopic view of the war and the women involved in a series of episodes narrated by Calliope, the Greek muse of epic poetry. A fresh take on the Iliad brimming with wit and atmosphere. What am I supposed to take from this? That it's impossible for Ariadne to break out of the suffering that men (and gods) cause in creating their legends? She certainly doesn't try - the woman is so passive that she knows nothing about the world or about her own husband. It would be better to write this as a tragedy and show an active heroine who tries to break out of the fate set for her, and who chooses Dionysus because he is interesting and powerful.

Ariadne was the first book I’d read centred around Greek mythology and it instantly grabbed my attention. The characters in the book are all one-note. Theseus is fame-obsessed, Dionysus is "not like other gods" (until he IS!!!! omg), Ariadne is a spectator, and Phaedra is "headstrong" (until she is NOT!!! omg). There is zero nuance, which is hugely disappointing given the character arcs for Theseus, Ariadne, and Phaedra, and particularly for a book that tries to talk about the inherent danger and cruelty of the gods. I thought for a bit that the story was really going to be about sisters, which would make sense given the vague feminist handwaving, but the Ariadne/Phaedra reunion is weirdly devoid of emotion and happens only to service Phaedra's plot. And that vague feminist handwaving doesn't even work on the most basic level. Strauss said that The Composer must be sung by “the most talented woman singer in the theatre” and in the recent Opera North production, that character was onstage for most of the second part as well as dominating the first. Do you share the view of the predominance of this character?The struggle for females to break free from the influence and punishment of men is a familiar tale, and the infusion of Greek mythology makes it that much more exciting. I'm always thrilled to come across such a compelling debut, and I cannot wait to see what else Jennifer Saint comes up with. The story is ladened with tragedy and also times of happiness, but there was always that overwhelming sense of foreboding. Don’t come into this story expecting gentleness. Ariadne is told with raw brutality, no holds barred.

You are staging Ariadne after very successful productions of Intermezzo and Der Rosenkavalier. Would it be true to say that these works are progressively difficult to direct? The “opera” proper (second Act, effectively) is where the leading singers have their chances to explore some of Strauss’s most glorious, and demanding, writing for the voice. In staging, it’s very much as in the original scenario – two shows concertina’d into one – except that in this production there are film cameras and lights around the edge of the stage, and Bacchus (who’s going to be Ariadne’s love, once they’ve each sorted out their mistaken apprehension of who the other is) makes his entrance on a sound stage gantry – a genuine deus ex machina! We also see the Composer still very much around (though silent) and very much fallen for the charms of Zerbinetta, giving the love interest of the plot a neat double quality. And at the close there really are fireworks – a happy ending to beat all happy endings. The story continues to follow the separate lives of the two sisters until they meet again years later when it is apparent that both women bear the scars of sorrow, love, betrayal and now deep seeded suspicion of each other as the events that shaped them now threatens to pull them apart. When you read Greek Mythology, you know tragedy is just lurking around the corner and this book is no different.

I also felt that Hera's presence in the novel was in some ways a missed opportunity. She's always there as Araidne's enemy by proxy but we never really explore how the white-armed goddess (not the greatest of epithets) of marriage and birth, the protector of women, and the queen of all gods could have it in for these poor women, exploited by her King of the Gods husband, her Olympian brothers and their children. Instead as Ariadne points out. Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up listening to her nursemaid's stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echoes the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice. When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives to vanquish the beast, Ariadne sees in his green eyes not a threat but an escape. Defying the gods, betraying her family and country, and risking everything for love, Ariadne helps Theseus kill the Minotaur. An arresting novel in verse which brings the Greek monster Geryon (who features in the 10th Labour of Heracles) into a modern-day setting. Drawing on surviving fragments of the lyric poet Stesichorus’s work Geryoneis, this is a moving coming-of-age tale about love and yearning which is whimsical, sad, and a fascinating take on a character overlooked in favour of the larger-than-life man who slayed him.