Galatea

by Madeline Miller

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

After Circe and Song of Achilles, all should go confidently into any Greek myth Madeline Miller takes on. Galatea is one such myth, the story of Pygmalion and the sculptor Galatea. This is a reprinting of a 2013 short story that is everything it needs to be and then some.

In Ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece – the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen – the gift of life. Now his wife, Galatea is expected to be obedience and humility personified, but it is not long before she learns to use her beauty as a form of manipulation. In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, she is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost...

Pygmalion's story has moved millions through the centuries, inspiring George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, and later the beloved musical My Fair Lady.  Ecco is proud to publish Orange Prize-winning author Madeline Miller’s E-book original short story Galatea which will appear in the forthcoming anthology xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths to be published in October. This retelling of the Pygmalion myth from the statue’s perspective is a tale that will make readers rethink how they relate to the great myths of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062319654
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/13/2013
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	14,142
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Madeline Miller is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two novels: The Song of Achilles, which won the Orange Women’s Prize for Fiction 2012, and Circe, which was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019. Her books have been translated into over thirty two languages. Miller holds an MA in Classics from Brown University, studied in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms, and taught Latin, Greek, and Shakespeare to high school students for over a decade.

Editorial Reviews

It’s lovely to see Miller back after her triumphant and critically acclaimed Orange Prize–winning Song of Achilles, even though it’s only in short story form. For those familiar with the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalian and his obsession with his own artistic creation, the foundation of this work will come as no surprise. As the story goes, Pygmalian fell so deeply in love with his beautiful statue he clothed her, brought her gifts of jewels and flowers, and, finally, prayed to Aphrodite to give him a woman just like Galatea (which means sleeping love). Instead, Aphrodite brought the statue to life, and they lived happily ever after. Or did they? In Miller’s retelling, true love turns sour and poor Galatea has been confined to a hospital where her husband visits her occasionally for conjugal relations, insisting that she pretend to be the statue she once was until he chooses to wake her with sex.

Verdict Many Greek myths end tragically. Miller explores this theme in an e-original story that will invite readers to return again and again. This would be a perfect high school or college assignment for those studying the classics. [This story will also be published in the forthcoming print anthology xo Orpheus: Fifty New Myths, edited by Kate Bernheimer (Penguin, Oct.).—Ed.]—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage P.L., AK
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Library Journal

Praise for Song of Achilles — ///

“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art….A book I could not put down.” — Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

“Sharply written, cleverly re-imagined. . . . Incredibly rewarding.” — USA Today

“Wildly romantic [and] surprisingly suspenseful....[B]ringing those dark figures back to life, making them men again, and while she’s at it, us[ing] her passionate companion piece to The Iliad as a subtle swipe at today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Talk about updating the classics.” — Time

“One of the best novelistic adaptations of Homer in recent memory.” — Wall Street Journal

“Powerful, inventive, passionate, and beautifully written.” — Boston Globe

Praise for Circe — ///

"Circe,' [is] a bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story that manages to be both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right." — Alexandra Alter, New York Times

"One of the most amazing qualities of this novel [is]: We know how everything here turns out - we've known it for thousands of years - and yet in Miller's lush reimagining, the story feels harrowing and unexpected. The feminist light she shines on these events never distorts their original shape; it only illuminates details we hadn't noticed before." — Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Miller's spell builds slowly, but by the last page you'll be in awe. In prose of dreamlike simplicity, she reimagines the myth of Circe." — People

"So vivid, so layered, you could get lost in it... Whether or not you think you like Greek Mythology, this is just great storytelling. It feels cinematic." — NPR's Here & Now

"The story of Circe's entanglement with Odysseus lasts far beyond the narrative of "The Odyssey," making for compelling material to revisit. But ultimately it's as a character that Circe stands apart....Through her elegant, psychologically acute prose, Miller gives us a rich female character who inhabits the spaces in between." — Colleen Abel, Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Publisher

[A] lush reimagining.” 

Ron Charles

One of the best novelistic adaptations of Homer in recent memory.

Wall Street Journal

Sharply written, cleverly re-imagined. . . . Incredibly rewarding.

USA Today

A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess’s story.” 

Alexandra Alter

Praise for Song of Achilles

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