Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award

Waterstones best book of the year 2023

'A remarkable feat of storytelling' Rosie Hewlett

This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favourite hero, right?

Wrong.

This is the story of everyone else:

Alcmene: Herc’s mother (She has knives everywhere)

Hylas: Herc’s first friend (They were more than friends)

Megara: Herc’s wife (She’ll tell you about their marriage)

Eurystheus: Oversaw Herc’s labours (He never asked for the job)

His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his lovers, his rivals, his gods, his victims.

It’s time to hear their stories.

Herc gives voice to the silenced characters, in this feminist, queer (and sometimes shocking) retelling of classic Hercules myth.