Daughters of Olympus
Hannah Lynn’s novel retells the myths of Demeter, Greek goddess of grain, and her daughter Persephone/Core. Traditionally, Zeus is Persephone’s father without any background story. Lynn vividly fills that void, describing Demeter’s adoration of her younger brother Zeus when he rescues her from Cronus’s belly and then the transformation of that naïve hero worship into hate when he uses that trust to draw her off alone and rape her. So deep is her trauma, she withdraws to an island and for millennia fearfully protects her daughter from the gods’ notice—or so she thinks.
The narrative point of view shifts to unworldly Core, who chafes at her restricted life, cramped by her mother’s trauma. Eventually, Core seeks more in life with results at first happy and later devastating to both mother and daughter. All three of the Olympian brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, commit acts of violence against the mother-daughter pair. The prologue announces, “This is the story of a mother’s loss and a woman so completely torn to shreds by her family that the whole Earth would suffer because of it.” This feminist rendering shows the lasting scars rape inflicts. Demeter may only want safety for her daughter, but in the process, she forces an unending, powerless girlhood on her daughter. Both Core and Demeter must break out of these anxiety-born limitations of character and grow—ironic for two goddesses whose touch makes flowers burst forth. Lynn’s portrayal of both characters grants them this complex development. To do so, she must draw a heavy line between these daughters of Olympus who feel fully human to the reader and the rest of the Olympians, even the other goddesses, who are unchangingly self-centered and vile.
