Meet mythology's fifty fiercest females in this modern retelling of the world's greatest legends.
From feminist fairies to bloodsucking temptresses, half-human harpies and protective Vodou goddesses, these are women who go beyond long-haired, smiling stereotypes. Their stories are so powerful, so entrancing, that they have survived for millennia. Lovingly retold and updated, Kate Hodges places each heroine, rebel and provocateur fimly at the centre of their own narrative. Players include:
Bewitching, banished Circe, an introvert famed and feared for her transfigurative powers.
The righteous Furies, defiantly unrepentant about their dedication to justice.
Fun-loving Ame-no-Uzume who makes quarrelling friends laugh and terrifies monsters by flashing at them.
The fateful Morai sisters who spin a complex web of birth, life and death.
Find your tribe, fire your imagination and be empowered by this essential anthology of notorious, demonised and overlooked women.
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 WITCHES Wise women, soothsayers and healers
HECATE Greek: goddess
MORGAN LE FAY. British: enchantress and fairy
CIRCE Greek: goddess/witch
BABA YAGA Slavic: witch
CASSANDRA. Greek: prophet
THE PYTHIA. Greek: priestess/witch
BERCHTA. Southern German/Austrian: goddess
WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN Indigenous American/Lakotan: spirit
RHIANNON Celtic: goddess/fairy
CHAPTER 2 WARRIORS Fighters, strategists and bringers of justice
ARTEMIS Greek: goddess
ANATH Northwest Semitic: goddess
DIVOKA SARKA Bohemian: warrior
FREYJA Norse: goddess
THE FURIES Roman/Greek: goddesses
CIHUATETEO Meso-American: spirits
KALT Hindu: goddess
YENNENGA Mossi, African: princess
JEZEBEL Hebrew/Christian: queen
CHAPTER 3 BRINGERS OF MISFORTUNE Destructors, havoc-wreakers, harbingers of doom
HEL Norse: goddess
MORR.GAN Celtic: goddess
THE VALKYRIES Norse: spirits
PONTIANAK Malay: ghost
BAOBHAN SITH Scottish: vampire
LILITH Jewish: demon
LOVIATAR Finnish: goddess
HARPIES Greek: monsters
MEDUSA Greek/Roman: monster
LA LLORONA Mexican: spirit
BANSHEE Celtic: spirit, fairy
FUTAKUCHI-ONNA Japanese: supernatural beast
CHAPTER 4 ELEMENTAL SPIRITS Lightning bolt-throwers, commanders of fire and ice, creators of the planet
TIAMAT Babylonian: goddess
MAMI WATA African/American: goddess
PELE Hawaiian: goddess
SELKIES Scottish: creatures
MARI Basque: goddess
THE LADY OF LLYN Y FAN FACH Welsh: fairy
THE RAINBOW SERPENT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Australia: gender-fluid goddess/god
MAZU Mazuism/Buddhism/Taoism/Confucianism: goddess
EGLE THE QUEEN OF SERPENTS Lithuanian: woman
CHAPTER 5 MUNIFICENT SPIRITS Bountiful deities, generous spirits, domestic goddesses
TARA Buddhism/Hinduism: goddess
MADDERAKKA Sámi: spirits
THE MOIRAI Greek: incarnations of destiny
BRIGID Celtic: goddess and saint
ERZULIE DANTOR AND ERZULIE FREDA Vodou: goddesses
BONA DEA Roman: goddess
AME-NO-UZUME Japanese: goddess
INANNA Mesopotamian: goddess
MA'AT Egyptian: goddess
LIEU HANH Vietnamese: goddess
MAMAN BRIGITTE Voudou: goddess
GLOSSARY
FURTHER READING
MYTHOLOGICAL WOMEN PLAYLIST
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
