The Song of Achilles: A Novel

Madeline Miller

Mar 2012 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist….A book I could not put down.”
—Ann Patchett

“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. 

A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.

Ratings and reviews

I really loved this novel. The relationship between Achilles and Patroclus was beautifully written in a graceful manner that allowed you to grieve with both of them as one lost the other. I never understood why Patroclus stepped out of that chariot, but this book offers as good a reason as any I've ever seen. It really shows why Greek mythology is one of the best examples of storytelling there's ever been. Absolutely brilliant.

I loved this book so much that I can't seem to find another one to even compare, no matter how hard I try. I keep trying to find a similar book to read only to realize that the book I'm searching for is under my nose and I'm just craving to read this one over again and again. I can't stop. Every word is a masterpiece

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. It is heart-wrenchingly beautiful and will make you cry for all the right reasons

About the author

Madeline Miller is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two novels: The Song of Achilles, which won the Orange Women’s Prize for Fiction 2012, and Circe, which was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019. Her books have been translated into over thirty two languages. Miller holds an MA in Classics from Brown University, studied in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms, and taught Latin, Greek, and Shakespeare to high school students for over a decade.