The Hymn to Dionysus

This fresh and stylish reimagining of the myth of Dionysus from Pulley (The Mars House) follows Phaidros Heliades, who, trained as a knight in the Theban army from childhood, grows up traveling all over the region with his regiment and his commander, Helios Poly. At age four, he and Helios visit Helios’s sister, Queen Agave, where Phaidros discovers an abandoned baby—an encounter that ends in tragedy. Years later, Phaidros fails to protect a boy at sea, another tragedy. As an adult, Phaidros is stationed in Thebes and suffering from PTSD that manifests in flashbacks to the battle of Troy. He longs for the boy from the sea to return and take his revenge, a fate he believes to be inevitable. Despite his deep depression, he becomes entangled in the lives of the city’s young prince and the queen, and with an enigmatic witch named Dionysus, who seems to appear around every corner. As drought, famine, and madness overtake the city, Phaidros is torn between the duty that has always been the driving factor in his life and the humanity he’s learned to bury inside. In her singular voice, Pulley crafts a nuanced story that enthralls the reader until the very last page. Fans of Greek myth retellings won’t want to miss this one. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Assoc. (Mar.)