Ariadne
Jennifer Saint hands the labyrinth back to the women left bleeding around its edges. Ariadne, princess of Crete, falls for Theseus the night he arrives to be sacrificed to her brother the Minotaur, and she trades her family for his promise. What follows is the part myth usually skips, a marooning on Naxos, a marriage of convenience to a wine god, and a slow reckoning with how carelessly heroes break the lives that helped them. The novel pairs Ariadne's voice with that of her younger sister Phaedra, whose later marriage to Theseus brings its own bitter inheritance. Lush, angry, and deeply readable, this is feminist mythological retelling in the tradition of Madeline Miller, written for anyone who suspected the gods were never the worst part of the story.
Where Ariadne keeps showing up
Two of our editors' lists feature this novel.
What you might want to know about Ariadne
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Ariadne, princess of Crete, narrates the myth of the Minotaur from the inside, including her bargain with Theseus and what happens to her and her sister Phaedra long after the heroes sail away.
Yes. Ariadne retells the myth of the Minotaur from the perspective of Ariadne, the Cretan princess who helps Theseus, and her sister Phaedra. Jennifer Saint focuses on the women left out of the original story, in the wave of feminist mythology retellings alongside Circe and A Thousand Ships.
Ariadne is a standalone, but Jennifer Saint has written several other Greek myth retellings including Elektra, Atalanta, and Hera. Each is independent.
Ariadne was written by Jennifer Saint, published in 2021 by Wildfire.
Ariadne is 386 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Ariadne takes most readers 6 to 8 hours to finish.
Ariadne is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
