From An Unlikely Story's event page:

Partnering with the Attleboro Public Library, An Unlikely Story invites you to a virtual discussion between CIRCE author Madeline Miller and Dr. Kevin Kalish, Associate Professor of English at Bridgewater State University, to explore the many themes of this year’s NEA Big Read title and to learn more about the author’s inspiration for the novel.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

"A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story," this #1 New York Times bestseller is "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, The New York Times).

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child -- not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power -- the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.

#1 New York Times Bestseller -- named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, the Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor, Refinery 29, Buzzfeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self, Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Madeline Miller’s first novel, The Song of Achilles, was awarded the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. Her second novel, Circe, was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Before she was a novelist, Madeline Miller earned her BA and MA in Classics from Brown University, and she taught and tutored Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students for more than fifteen years. Her novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages, and her essays have appeared in the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Lapham's Quarterly and on npr.org.

Dr. Kalish regularly teaches courses on the Classical Tradition and the Bible as Literature. His work has appeared in various scholarly journals. To learn more, visit https://bridgew.academia.edu/KevinKalish.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.