A miraculous retelling of Greek myths

This seems to be the week for Psyche and Eros retellings: but wait, the influences for this one include the Odyssey, the Labyrinth of Minos, Orpheus and Eurydice, the legend of Lamia—there is something alchemical and supremely intelligent about this book that I haven't read in any of the other adaptations, and all I can say is that Sarah Underwood has struck gold for the second time.

Practical Eirene and her wan twin Phoebe struggle to survive on the ancient Greek island of Zakynthos, and where the young women keep being shackled in ensorcelled marriage to much older men. Eirene knows that glittering merchant Leandros is the culprit of the village's woes, and when the trader sets his cap at her sister, Eileen plays a shell game to enter his house, ready to bargain for her sister's life with her own. Only, in Leandro's house is his daughter Lamia, whose strange powers hint at even greater mysteries.

Such a clever weaving of lots of Greek myths, fleshing out an Animal Husband type tale with grace notes from other unrelated stories to tell an original tale with a romance that steals up on you, with a shocking denouement that might seem at odds with the novel but is definitely in tune with the source material. There is only one fly in the ointment, but when a book is this good, one slip can be glossed over.

Four and a half stars, rounded up to five.