• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2022 November #2
  *Starred Review* The half-sister of the legendary Minotaur gets her due in Shepperson's debut. Phaedra is younger than the infamous Ariadne, and she's devastated when Ariadne helps Theseus find and slay the Minotaur, who is not a monster but their disfigured brother. When Ariadne allegedly leaves Theseus for the god Dionysus on the journey back from Crete to Athens, Theseus comes to claim Phaedra as a bride. She agrees, thinking she can get revenge on Theseus for the murder of her brother. But when Phaedra arrives in Athens, she finds Theseus wants little to do with her, and his teenage son, Hippolytus, just a few years younger than Pheadra, is both fixated on and repulsed by her. When Phaedra discovers that Hippolytus' friends are ravaging the women in the castle, she seeks him out in an attempt to put an end to the rampant sexual violence, only to find herself a victim of it when her stepson brutally rapes her. Left pregnant with her rapist's baby, Phaedra decides to fight back. With a pointed examination of the plight of women in ancient Greece, this powerful and compulsively readable tale should appeal to fans of Jennifer Saint's Ariadne (2021) and Madeline Miller's Circe (2018). Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Laura Shepperson has been fascinated by myths and myth retellings since studying Classical Studies at university, and her current novel updates the story of Phaedra, sister of the Minotaur. In 2017 she was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize for Fiction. Laura holds a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is trying to learn Ancient Greek. Laura lives outside London with her husband and children.