Galatea

It's lovely to see Miller back after her triumphant and critically acclaimed Orange Prize-winning Song of Achilles, even though it's only in short story form. For those familiar with the Greek myth of the sculptor Pygmalian and his obsession with his own artistic creation, the foundation of this work will come as no surprise. As the story goes, Pygmalian fell so deeply in love with his beautiful statue he clothed her, brought her gifts of jewels and flowers, and, finally, prayed to Aphrodite to give him a woman just like Galatea (which means sleeping love). Instead, Aphrodite brought the statue to life, and they lived happily ever after. Or did they? In Miller's retelling, true love turns sour and poor Galatea has been confined to a hospital where her husband visits her occasionally for conjugal relations, insisting that she pretend to be the statue she once was until he chooses to wake her with sex.