Hera
Following her previous novels on the Greek myths, Jennifer Saint tells the story of Hera, Queen of Olympus. After overthrowing the Titans and their father, Cronus, the immortal goddess Hera and her brother, Zeus, establish their reign on Mount Olympus, where she expects to rule by his side. But when Zeus subdues Hera in moment of lust, she vows to make him pay for his betrayal. She will enlist every ally she can find on the dizzying heights of Olympus and in the dark, fetid underground where Gaia dwells to reclaim her right to rule alongside an increasingly power-mad Zeus.
Saint, who studied classics at King’s College, London, has a preternatural ability to get inside the minds and internal experiences of her albeit mythological characters. Here, Hera is the immensely sympathetic foil to an increasingly unhinged Zeus, who forces her to marry him and become the goddess of marriage, a position she never wanted. As the centuries unfold, Hera silently endures and plots to take down Zeus, who spends his time seducing and/or raping immortal and mortal women, fathering more gods and goddesses—like Apollo and Artemis—who take up thrones on Olympus, much to Hera’s disgust. She will birth her own monster from that rage, who dwells in the hidden caves and tunnels in Gaia’s depths, but who also eventually succumbs to Zeus’s power. In dreaming of overthrowing her brother to establish “a world under the benevolent rule of goddesses, instead of power-hungry gods,” Hera soon realizes that Zeus’s meddling with mortals could threaten their existence—and serve up the vengeance long denied her.
Hera is a delicious treat that readers will gobble up. Saint’s prose is lyrical, lush, and eloquently frames the endless contest between Zeus and Hera as a contemporary commentary on men and women.
