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Medusa

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( 1,750 ratings, 289 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Medusa by Martine Desjardins is a historical fiction novel that plunges readers into a tumultuous world filled with intrigue and mystery. The narrative weaves through a rich tapestry of secrets, power struggles, and societal norms in a past era, exploring themes of identity and transformation against a vividly detailed backdrop. Desjardins crafts an immersive story that examines the complexities of human nature and the impact of hidden truths.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3499
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this captivating story if you're intrigued by mythological themes woven into historical fiction with a rich narrative. The author explores intriguing perspectives and adds depth to legendary tales, offering a fresh look at familiar myths set against a historical backdrop.

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By the author of the award-winning Maleficium, Medusa is an incendiary tale of women's body shame and men's body shaming, phallocratic oppression, and the power of femininity, adapting the famous story of Medusa.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An incendiary new novel based on the myth of Medusa from noted author Martine Desjardins.

She's been called Medusa for so long that she's forgotten her real name. She walks with her head down, her face hidden behind her hair to spare others the sight of her deformities—eyes so horrible they repel women and petrify men. She herself never dares to look in a mirror.

Driven from her family home, Medusa is locked up in the Atheaeum, an institute for young 'malformed' girls, which stands on the shores of a lake infested with jellyfish. In this dismal abyss, where Benefactors indulge in cruel games with their protegees, she gradually discovers the prodigious and formidable faculties of her ocular sickenings.

The day Medusa finally emerges from her confinement, she sows destruction in her path. But before she can take revenge on the Benefactors who humiliated her, she'll first have to face the treacherous gaze of her nemesis—and the deadly gaze of her own abominations.

Martine Desjardins's chilling and poetic Medusa is a provocative story of women's body shame and men's body shaming, phallocratic oppression, and female power—an inversion of the traditional balance of power that throws a light on so-called monstrosity.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781772013856

Publisher: Talon Books,Canada

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 December 2022

Country: Canada

Imprint: Talon Books,Canada

Edition: New edition

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 216.0mm

Weight: 205g

Pages: 208

About the Author

Martine Desjardins was born in the Town of Mount Royal, Quebec, in 1957. The second child of six, she started writing short stories when she was seventeen. After receiving a bachelor's degree in Russian and Italian studies at the Universite de Montreal, she went on to complete a master's degree in comparative literature, exploring humour in Dostoevsky's The Devils. She worked as an assistant editor-in-chief at ELLEQuebec magazine for four years before leaving to devote herself to writing. Her first novel, Le cercle de Clara, was published by Lemeac in 1997, and was nominated for both the Prix litteraires du Quebec and the Grand Prix des lectrices de ELLE Quebec in 1998. Talonbooks has published six translations of her more recent novels, including Maleficium, a tour de force short-listed for the 2010 Governor General's Literary Award for French Fiction and Quebec Prix des libraires.

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