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The
2007 Award
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The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
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Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Edition
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| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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| In
Homer's Odyssey, Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful
Helen of Troy - is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story
a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan war after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumours, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and - curiously - twelve of her maids. In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: 'What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?' In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the storytelling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality - and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
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Born in Ottawa in 1939, Margaret Atwood is the author of more than thirty-five internationally acclaimed works of fiction, poetry and critical essays. The Handmaid's Tale, Cat's Eye, Alias Grace, and Oryx and Crake were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, which she won with her tenth novel, The Blind Assassin. Other prizes include the Governor General's Award for The Handmaid's Tale, the Italian Premio Mondale and the Canadian Giller Prize for Alias Grace, and the National Arts Club Literary Award in the United States. Margaret Atwood is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has been awarded the Norwegian Order of Literary Merit and the French Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; she is a Foreign Honorary Member for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson. |
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© 2007 Dublin City Public Libraries
