Alcestis -- Katharine Beutner, Paperback

For fans of The Song of Achilles, a queer and fiercely feminist retelling of a little-known Greek myth: the ultimate story of sacrifice and forbidden desire--now in a deluxe reissue.

In Greek myth, Alcestis is known as the ideal wife; she loved her husband so much that she died and went to the Underworld in his place. But who was Alcestis before she was married? Other than her love for Admetus, what circumstances led her to make this ultimate sacrifice? And what happened to her in the three days she spent in the Underworld?

Katharine Beutner's lush, emotionally devastating debut explores the magical reality of Ancient Greece, where gods attend weddings and the afterlife is just a river away, as Alcestis goes on a heroine's journey from sheltered princess to self-actualized savior--redefining love and discovering her own power. Giving an achingly beautiful voice to the most misunderstood wives of Greek mythology, Alcestis is the Underworld as you've never seen it before.

This deluxe edition features discussion questions, a craft essay, and a bonus short story.

Author: Katharine Beutner
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 09/05/2023
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.19h x 5.43w x 0.87d
ISBN: 9781641295512

About the Author
Katharine Beutner is an assistant professor of English at the College of Wooster in Ohio; previously, she taught at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa. She earned a BA in Classical Studies at Smith College and a MA in English (creative writing) and PhD in English literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Her first novel, Alcestis, won the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award in 2011 and was a finalist for other awards, including the Lambda Literary Association's Lesbian Debut Fiction Award. Her writing has appeared in Tinfish Press, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Books, The Toast, TriQuarterly, Humanities, and other publications. Recently, she received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. She is the editor in chief of The Dodge, a magazine of eco-writing and translation. She is also the author of Killingly.