Book Club Guide

Circe

by Madeline Miller · 2018 · Literary Fiction

Key themes

The witch as a woman who develops power without permission
What it means to become yourself when the world has decided what you are
The relationship between gods and mortals — power, time and the specific grief of immortality

About this book

Circe, daughter of Helios, discovers she has the power to transform men into animals — and must navigate a world of gods, monsters and heroes while finding what she actually is. Miller's novel recasts a figure from the Odyssey as the protagonist of her own story, questioning what power means for a woman the ancient world considered marginal.

Published in 2018, Circe spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list. Miller researched extensively in classical sources, finding material that had been marginalised in standard readings of the myths.

Discussion questions

Circe spends millennia learning what she actually is. How does Miller develop this process of self-discovery — and what does the slow arc of an immortal life allow her to do?
The novel is partly about what it means to have power in a world that finds your power threatening. How does Miller develop Circe's growing understanding of this — and what does she eventually do with it?
Circe meets many figures from Greek myth — Odysseus, Daedalus, Hermes. How does Miller handle these encounters — as faithful retellings or as pointed revisions?
The relationship between Circe and her son is the novel's most tender strand. What is Miller saying about motherhood and what it asks of the person who is also an autonomous being?
Circe is a feminist retelling of classical myth. Does the novel feel didactic — or does the feminist revision feel earned by the specific story it tells?