5 Books Like Circe by Madeline Miller to Read Next, Ranked
Madeline Miller’s Circetook a footnote of a witch and handed her a whole interior life — centuries of exile, defiance, and hard-won power, all in prose that glows. What lingers afterward is the angle: a story we thought we knew, told by the woman it had always kept silent. If you want more myth retold from the margins, more overlooked women handed the microphone, these five retellings belong on your nightstand — each one taking a familiar legend and turning it to face a new direction.
1. The Song of Achilles — Madeline Miller
Miller’s first novel, and the obvious next read: the Trojan War seen through the tender, devastating love between Achilles and Patroclus. Same incandescent prose, same gut-punch ending, and the same knack for finding the beating human heart inside a cold old legend. Have tissues ready — this one earns its reputation as a reliable tearjerker.
2. Ariadne — Jennifer Saint
The princess who handed Theseus the thread, retold as a story about the women the heroes used and abandoned. If you loved how Circe reframed familiar myths around their forgotten women, Saint is your next stop.
3. The Silence of the Girls — Pat Barker
Briseis, the queen turned war prize, narrates the Iliad from inside the Greek camp, where the heroes we grew up admiring look very different up close. Barker is unflinching about the brutality the epics romanticize — a darker, sharper companion to Miller’s warmth, and a bracing reminder of who paid for all that glory.
4. A Thousand Ships — Natalie Haynes
The entire Trojan War narrated by its women, from goddesses to grieving queens to captives, each given a chapter to set the record straight. Witty, furious, and chorus-wide in scope — perfect when you want a whole tapestry of voices instead of the single, intimate thread that Circe follows.
5. Stone Blind — Natalie Haynes
Medusa reclaimed: not a monster but a mortal girl punished for a god’s crime. Haynes turns the famous slaying inside out, asking who the real villain was and letting a chorus of gods and mortals weigh in. A natural finish for any Circelover’s list, and a sharp, witty read in its own right.
Find your next myth
Retellings and literary fiction turn over quickly here, so come browse in person or shop online, and trade your finished reads back for credit. Need a nudge toward the right one? Try our AI Matchmaker. In the mood for a bigger adventure next? See books like The Priory of the Orange Tree, or the lighter side of love in books like The Love Hypothesis.