Medea

Debut author Quin pens a feminist retelling of the life of Medea, the sorceress of Greek lore who was reviled for murdering her children. Medea ranks up there with Medusa as far as despised and monstrous women go, but Quin asks whether there might be another side to the myth. Following Medea from girlhood to adulthood, Quin’s account humanizes Medea and shows that she is more than a witch, murderess, and child-slayer. The daughter of the Oceanid nymph Idyia and the sorcerer-king Aeetes, a young Medea cares for her brother Phaethon after her mother returns to the sea. In her youth, she hears a devastating prophecy that Phaethon will be hacked to death. As a result, she dedicates her life to studying pharmakon, the magic associated with plants and flowers, and later learns witchcraft and necromancy as she tries to save her brother from his fate. Later, as the wife of Jason of the Argonauts, Medea travels across the sea, heading toward a horrific destiny that she can’t outrun. The audio is brilliantly narrated by Gail Shalan, who embodies Medea’s complex self and captures her heartache, intelligence, and resourcefulness.