Description of

IOKASTE

The Novel of the Mother-Wife of Oedipus

For millennia the story of Oedipus - who, despite all efforts to avoid his fate, killed his father and married his mother - has captivated imaginations. Even more compelling are the experiences of his wife and mother, Iokaste. In our novel, Iokaste, we tell her story.

As the book opens, Iokaste's brother Kreon comes to tell his sister she must die. The sacrilege of her unnatural marriage has been revealed; the queen of Thebes can either take her own life or be torn to pieces by an angry mob. She has until dawn to choose the means of her death. Horrified, Iokaste's daughter asks: how much of the truth did you know? And when did you know it? Iokaste answers these questions.

Through the disappointment of her first marriage and the loss of her firstborn child, Iokaste learns the sacrifices demanded of a queen. When her husband dies, Iokaste and her brother must contend with the dangerous Sphinx and contrive a plan to protect their city. Then the prince of Korinth arrives to claim the heart of the queen, and Iokaste finds herself involved in a relationship richer and more complex and than she ever imagined possible - but this very love threatens the destruction of all she holds dear.

We have compared and combined the ancient myths, explored the ruins of Thebes, and researched Greece's Bronze Age. We believe our tale shows what might have happened in that era a generation before Homer's Troy.