Madeline Miller

Madeline Miller (born July 24, 1978) is an American novelist, author of The Song of Achilles and Circe (2018). Miller spent ten years writing The Song of Achilles while she worked as a teacher of Latin and Greek. The novel tells the story of the love between the mythological figures Achilles and Patroclus; it won the Orange Prize for Fiction, making Miller the fourth debut novelist to win the prize. She is a 2019 recipient of the Alex Awards.

Early life and family Miller was born on July 24, 1978, in Boston and grew up in New York City and Philadelphia. Miller attended Brown University, completing both a bachelor's and master's degree in classics (2000 and 2001, respectively). She started writing her first novel, The Song of Achilles, during the final year of her bachelor's after codirecting a production of Troilus and Cressida. She has said that the scene in the play that shows Patroclus' death sparked her interest in telling his story and pushed her to start writing. Prior to this moment, she already had a deep interest in Greek mythology and classics. Her mother, a librarian, started reading her The Iliad at five years old and she started learning Latin at 11. One of her favorite warriors at the Met is a marble statue of a wounded Amazon warrior which has blood drops on the side of her breast. While working as a teacher, Miller continued work on her novel.

She has discussed how long COVID has affected her life since a February 2020 COVID-19 infection. In an op-ed in The Washington Post in August 2023, she said that having had the disease for three years, she had regained the ability to write but her fatigue had worsened.

Novels The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles, Miller's debut novel, was released in September 2011. The book took her ten years to write. The book is a modern reimagining told from the perspective of Circe, an enchantress in Greek mythology who is featured in Homer's Odyssey. Circe was ranked the second-greatest book of the 2010s by Paste. Tutor House ranked Circe in its top books for Classics students in 2021. An 8-part miniseries adaptation of the book has been green-lit for HBO Max. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are set to write and produce the adaptation.

Miller was motivated to write Circe in part out of disappointment in the character's role in the Odyssey. She explained in an interview, “Odysseus has told his story for the last 3,000 years ... It was time for Circe to speak for herself.” Circe focuses on the titular character, with Odysseus only playing a minor role. Miller in Circe channels many feminist themes: rejection of patriarchal norms, empowerment, and self-reliance. Miller said that Circe is "a story about a woman coming into her power and into her voice in a world hostile to women in power and the female voice". 1 New York Times Bestseller 1 Indie Bestseller Publishers Weekly *Starred* Review Library Journal *Starred* Review NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday": Books to Look Forward in 2018 Esquire: The 27 Most Anticipated Books of 2018 Boston Globe : 25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018 The Millions: The Most Anticipated: The Great 2018 Book Review Cosmopolitan: 33 Books to Get Excited About in 2018 Vox: Five New Books to Purchase This Spring The Guardian (UK): Unmissable Culture of 2018 Southern Living: Best New Books Coming in Spring 2018 Book Riot: Most Anticipated Books of 2018 TOR: The Books We're Looking Forward to in 2018

Galatea A short story originally released as an e-book in 2013. The novel is a retelling of the Greek myth Pygmalion from the perspective of the sculptor's statue.

Heracles' Bow A short story contained within The Song of Achilles and published in a Waterstones Special edition of The Song of Achilles on August 7, 2012, Heracles' Bow takes from the perspective of Philoctetes, how he suffered his snake bite, and his abandonment by his companions. Much of the story takes place as a dialogue between Philoctetes and an imaginary Heracles, though other characters from The Song of Achilles also appear in it.

Persephone In December 2021, Miller announced via an Instagram post that she was working on her new novel, about the goddess Persephone.

Mestra: A Short Story In January 2026, Miller announced via an Instagram post the release of her latest fictional short story about the forgotten myth of Mestra.

Inspiration Miller is known for writing mythological realism. Miller's novels re-imagine stories from Greek mythology, while focusing on themes that she considers timeless, like dysfunctional families and homesickness. She has said that she finds relevance to retelling The Odyssey because it related to "universal human experiences." but said that her books could be characterized as "either literary adaptation or mythological realism. Or just plain old fiction!". a more "subversive retelling".

Homer has always been a guide for Miller. In reading the Iliad she wondered constantly about who the man in the shadows was. She noted in an interview with Women's Prize titled, "Archives: Q&A with Madeline Miller" that she took great inspiration to write The Song of Achilles after finishing directing her production of Troilus and Cressida. Her main concern for The Song of Achilles was Patroclus. The character of Patroclus came from Homer, but she used Homer as a guide to elaborate more on Patroclus and Achilles' characters. Miller expressed "hate" and "visceral disgust" towards Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead. As she herself indicated, she hates the "ideas behind it". Instead, she prefers books by James Herriot and Chinua Achebe.

Published works

Novels

Short novels

(2022) Galatea. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781526652065 (2026) Mestra. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781037206122

Other works Source:

← Awards: Circe -->