Across the water, set into the sloping mountainside, was a wide cave with large rocks dotted about in front of the entrance. I squinted, dazzled for a moment by the golden light reflecting back from the shimmering surface of the pool before us.

Saint has a truly gorgeous writing style and the world of Ancient Greece really comes to life in her prose. I had never known a human hearth; I had no conception of how rare a thing it was to be the protégée of a goddess, to spend my childhood in the wild simplicity and raw magic of the woods.Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life. When the ground dried and hardened, baked beneath the sun, Psekas could conjure a sprinkling of rain from the air to nourish the thirsty soil. But instead, the goddess Artemis takes her under her wing, raising her to become a powerful huntress.

She chose a life in the forest instead, preferring to bathe in the pools by silver moonlight and run through the trees by day, swift and graceful, a quiver of arrows slung across her body and her bow always ready. The detail and description is lush : you can hear the rustle of the green leaves and taste the salty spray of the sea as the Argo rides forth on its quest.I won’t go into all the details of the myth here, but Saint incorporates most of the elements that are often associated with Atalanta: the Calydonian boar hunt, her relationship with the Argonaut Meleager, the footrace and the golden apples.

He was convulsing, over and over, his screams ringing into the sky, and then he rolled over onto four legs—no longer a man but a stag. It was their task to teach me what she found too tedious; for them to guide me to understand how they talked, and to learn, haltingly at first, how to respond; for them to show me how to weave the cloth from which they made the simple tunics they all wore, and how to honor the other gods and goddesses whose names they taught me, though none of them ever came to our forest. There was Phiale, who, in the summer months when the water ran low, could always coax more to flow from the springs even if they had dwindled to a trickle, while Crocale drifted gracefully across the earth, flowers blooming in her wake. I felt that it was a bit slow to get started – the section set in the woods with the nymphs seemed to last forever – but once Atalanta joined the Argonauts on their quest it all became much more compelling.

And that, as women, she and the other women she meets bring their own form of power in a world that often sees them shunted to the side.

In between, she spent thirteen years as an English teacher, sharing a love of literature and creative writing with her students. This is a must-read for any fans of fantasy stories like “Circe” that feature strong, female characters. A woman who, as a baby, was left to die in the wild but was raised by a bear and later nymphs under the auspice of the goddess Artemis.As the story progresses Atalanta falls a little out of favour with the Goddess of the Hunt and to try and redeem herself undertakes a quest. Sue Lynn Tan, Sunday Times bestselling author of DAUGHTER OF THE MOON GODDESS A stunning retelling filled with breathtaking adventure, Atalanta brings to life a heroine who stands tall among the ancient gods and heroes of legend. Saint ( Elektra) continues to breathe new life into Greek myths in this exciting and intelligent reimagining of the story of warrior Atalanta.