With its heroic female leads and men who long to be fathers, Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett’s new book looks at modern mores through an ancient lens
“She is coming!” cried Thesea, and she ran forward to meet the beast. The seven bachelors shrieked, but tried to stand up bravely and face their fate; and the six young women stood together with firm-set teeth and clenched fists, ready to fight to the last.
You might recognise the story, but something’s different. We’re in Crete, where Queen Minoa keeps a beast in a labyrinth. Thesea has been sent from Athens to be devoured in a terrible act of vengeance. But – spoiler alert – the brave heroine slays the beast, then uses a previously unravelled thread to find the way out of the labyrinth to freedom. The beast, incidentally, is the Minoheifer.
