Phaedra: A Novel

Phaedra grew up in the painted light of Knossos, the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphaë. Her world was beauty, ritual, and the cold certainty that stories—especially about women—could wound as easily as any blade. When Theseus sails into Crete, kills the labyrinth’s secret, and abducts Phaedra to Athens to be his bride, she finds a palace without plumbing, a court without grace, and a city full of men who laugh. Her stepson, Hippolytus, worships Artemis and despises women. Her husband is always gone, reshaping politics and history. Her cousin Medea hides in the walls and watches. And at night, a hidden chorus of maids whispers the names of men who harm them.

What begins as a marriage of state turns into a story about voice. After a brutal assault in the woods, Phaedra refuses the usual script of shame and silence. Guided—then manipulated—by the smooth courtier Trypho, she forces the new Athenian “people’s court” to hear her case against the king’s beloved son. The verdict shocks Athens. The punishment, however, exposes who truly holds power.

This is not a tale of gods swooping in to right wrongs. It’s the story of how myths are made: bards who sell a better rhyme, rulers who prefer a cleaner ending, and women who pay the price. From Knossos to Athens; from the labyrinth’s dark to a beach glittering with surf; from a crowded trial to a final, terrible act—Phaedra claims the stage, makes the city listen, and leaves behind a truth the winners will try to bury. It’s bold, intimate, and painfully modern. If you’ve ever wondered why the official version feels wrong, this retelling gives you the missing voice.

• Fans of feminist myth retellings like Circe, Stone Blind, or The Silence of the Girls
• Listeners who love courtroom dramas, political intrigue, and morally complex characters
• Book clubs interested in power, consent, and how official stories get written

Laura Shepperson is a UK-based novelist with a lifelong love of classical stories and the women left out of them. A graduate of the University of Cambridge’s MSt in Creative Writing and a former Lucy Cavendish Prize finalist, she reimagines Greek myth with a modern moral clarity. She lives outside London with her family and is, by her own confession, still trying to master ancient Greek.