WINNER OF THE 2024 GOLDEN POPPY OCTAVIA E. BUTLER AWARD

'A brilliant and luminous writer’ Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles and Circe

‘Riveting, sublime, magical, and wildly subversive’ Cristina?García, author of Dreaming in Cuban

'A natural storyteller' Washington Post

Theirs was a love that defied the gods…

GLOWING READER REVIEWS

‘A beautiful story about the power of autonomy’ ??????????

‘Heart-wrenching, hard-hitting, beautifully written, sumptuous, poetic, romantic, and (because Eros is the goddess of desire) utterly scorching in places’ ??????????

'A gorgeous retelling, and one I will no doubt read again! ??????????

‘Overall, stunning prose, incredible chemistry, gorgeous characters, just a beauty of a retelling!’ ??????????

‘I cannot tell you how much I loved this, there will never be enough words to describe how much I enjoyed the experience of reading this (and believe me there were many tears involved)’ ??????????

Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eye of every suitor with her beauty – but also, unfortunately, the jealous gaze of the goddess Aphrodite. As punishment, Psyche is tied to a rock to be sacrificed to a ‘monstrous husband’. And yet, no monster arrives: instead, she is spirited away by Aphrodite’s daughter Eros.

Eros, goddess of desire, can change gender at will. And in her hidden palace, she visits her bride under the cloak of darkness: Psyche is forbidden to gaze upon the face of her lover. But as they explore each other’s bodies and discover new pleasures, Psyche is tempted to break her vow… even if it brings down the wrath of the gods.

A gloriously anarchic and seductive retelling of the myth of Psyche and Eros, groundbreaking, gender-fluid and hugely enjoyable, this is a masterpiece from Caro De Robertis, a writer described by Madeline Miller as ‘brilliant and luminous’.

The Palace of Eros was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 19/08/24