The classics expert Natalie Haynes was a 19-year-old student when she discovered that the Oedipus story was not “immutable”. In her excellent new novel, she harnesses the mutability of myth to retell the stories of Oedipus and Antigone, bringing to the foreground the often neglected female perspectives of Jocasta, the mother of Oedipus, just 15 years old when told she must marry the King of Thebes, and Ismene, daughter of Jocasta, who is dealing with her parents’ tragic deaths. Home is in a palace on the highest hill in Thebes, but supposedly safe spaces are full of danger. Atmospherically evoking a landscape of longed-for lakes and dark mountains, Haynes also subtly explores the “space between us and them” – between rulers and the people; parents and children; our personas and most secret selves.
• The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes is published by Mantle (£16.99). To order a copy for £12.74 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
