We are not short of modern retellings of the Greek myths: Natalie Haynes, Costanza Casati, Pat Barker and Madeline Miller are among those to have done it with style. But in audio, it’s hard to beat Stephen Fry’s book series which began with 2017’s Mythos, about the history of the Greek gods, and continued with Heroes, featuring the adventures of Jason, Perseus, Oedipus et al, and Troy, about the Trojan war. Now comes Odyssey, the fourth and final instalment characterised by the same accessible storytelling of its predecessors.
With Troy having fallen and a decade of war over, the Greek fleet, with its kings, princes, commanders, is keen to return home. Chief among them is Odysseus, king of Ithaca and hero of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, who longs to be reunited with his wife Penelope and who encounters violent storms (at the behest of Poseidon), angry Cyclopes and the witch-goddess Circe. Meanwhile Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and commander of the Achaeans, is to be reunited with his wife, Clytemnestra. But there is a question over how he will be received since, 10 years prior, he sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, in return for safe passage to Troy.
With his distinctive narration, Fry brings warmth, exuberance and humour to these age-old stories, along with a range of voices that veer slightly into panto territory with the Trojan seer Cassandra, enslaved by Agamemnon as his concubine. As they near Mycenae, she delivers increasingly shrill warnings to her master about what lies ahead: “Only murder awaits you,” she wails. “Your death and mine.”
• Available via Penguin Audio, 10hr 36min
Further listening
• Hope I Get Old Before I Die
David Hepworth, Penguin Audio, 10hr 43min
The former Smash Hits editor examines rock star longevity, from McCartney and Dylan to Springsteen and the Stones.
The Happy Couple
Naoise Dolan, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 5hr 32min
Ayoola Smart and Bert Seymour narrate the Exciting Times author’s novel about a young couple getting ready for their wedding day.
