Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, who wrote several novels in various genres before publishing her first major work as Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. It was a critically acclaimed success, receiving rave reviews and becoming a word of mouth bestseller. She has since published several hugely popular and critically acclaimed novels, won the World Fantasy Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and been shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. She lives in London.
A dazzlingly complex, twisting tale....Claire North breathes life into a cast of mythical characters from goddesses to queens to slave-women in a richly nuanced portrayal of human life. --Jennifer Saint on Ithaca A gorgeous, emotive feminist retelling of the classic Greek myth of Penelope. --Belfast Telegraph (UK) on Ithaca Like Penelope at her loom, North weaves and unweaves, teasing out the threads of Homeric myth to recombine them into something unique, wonderful, and urgently contemporary. --M. R. Carey on Ithaca Richly poetic and does justice to the very real and frustrating world of women forced to survive within a world of patriarchy, assault, and violence. This is an impassioned plea for the lost, disenfranchised queens of ancient Greece, a love letter to the silenced women of history who had to hide their pain behind their eyes and their skills, capabilities, and power behind false incompetence and ignorance. --Booklist (starred review) on Ithaca The queen of the gods narrates a crackling tale of secrets and intrigue...taut, suspenseful, and full of Hera's delightfully dyspeptic attitude. A thoroughly enjoyable exploration of Penelope's side of the ancient story. --Kirkus on Ithaca Told in the arresting voice of the goddess Hera . . . Ithaca conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies. --The Times (UK) on Ithaca