The Hymn to Dionysus
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A timely reimagining of the story of Dionysus-Greek god of ecstasy, revelry, and ruin-and a captivating queer love story for readers of The Song of Achilles and Elektra.
Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to follow his commander's orders at all costs. But when Phaidros rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes's palace, his commander's orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby's existence a total secret.
Years later, struggling with panic attacks and flashbacks, Phaidros is enlisted by the Queen to find her son, Thebes' young crown prince, who has vanished to escape an arranged marriage. The search leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus's company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.
In The Hymn to Dionysus, bestselling author Natasha Pulley transports us to an ancient empire on the edge of ruin to tell an utterly captivating queer love story about a man needing a god to remind him how to be a human.
About this Author
Natasha Pulley is the internationally bestselling author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, The Kingdoms, The Half Life of Valery K, and The Mars House. She has won a Betty Trask Award, been shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award, and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. She lives in Bristol, England.
Reviews
"[A] fresh and stylish reimagining . . . In her singular voice, Pulley crafts a nuanced story that enthralls the reader until the very last page. Fans of Greek myth retellings won't want to miss this one." --Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Amid a plethora of retellings of ancient Greek and Roman tales, it's Pulley's utterly unique and outrageously candid and witty hero Phaidros that makes this captivating yarn and its beautiful love story a standout." --Booklist, starred review
"Pulley brings out her favorite elements-palace intrigue, gallant lovers, masks, transformations, ambiguity, automata-and twists them into mesmerizing patterns . . . This love story is witty, bittersweet, surprising, and compellingly readable." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"While there's been an explosion in Greek myth retellings in recent years, you haven't read one like Natasha Pulley's newest . . . It's a queer love story wrapped up in questions about the end of empire and the need for revelry-quite fitting for 2025." --Town & Country
"A bittersweet and magical historical fiction reimagining of the story of the Greek God of ecstasy and madness that feels as much like a fantasy as it does a strict mythological retelling. Thoroughly captivating in every way." --Paste Magazine
"A tightrope walk between madness and duty, creation and destruction . . . The Hymn to Dionysus revisits a classic to explore the idea that love conquers all in more divine terms." --Foreword Reviews
"A dazzling labyrinth of a book that pulls you in with both hands. Pulley's wild, charismatic Dionysus is sure to win your heart, and Phaidros's indefatigable spirit and wry humor will keep readers glued to the page. A fitting tribute to the god of divine madness." --Luna McNamara, author of PSYCHE AND EROS
"Pulley has given us more than an inputting stare into the clockwork violence we carry out numbly every day to prop up a collapsing world that's destroying us along with itself. This is more than a story of love and escape and broken chains. This is more than an exquisitely crafted tale. This book is a candle in a dark hour." --Maya Deane, author of WRATH GODDESS SING
"A rich psychological drama and a triumph of a queer narrative . . . Weaves together the desires of two very different men: soldier and witch; loyalist and iconoclast. With mastery of voice, Pulley gives her narrator dry wit and complex desires, creating a character so recognizably human that he makes the ancient world feel close-by. I was enthralled from the first page to the last." --Elyse John, author of ORPHIA AND EURYDICIUS
"A completely original and bewitching adventure . . . These pages are brimming with life, and the chemistry between the career soldier and Dionysus crackles off the page. In trademark style, Pulley will make you laugh, think, and fall in love." --A.D. Rhine, author of DAUGHTERS OF BRONZE and HORSES OF FIRE
"A brilliant reimagining . . . With a tormented hero, a captivating love story, and worldbuilding that will leave you breathless, this novel twists the ideas of duty and honor, exploring the depths of humanity and the power of connection in a world consumed by chaos. An absolute must-read." --Crystal King, bestselling author of IN THE GARDEN OF MONSTERS and FEAST OF SORROW
"Already one of my favorite books of the year . . . There's palace intrigue, a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers plot, sassy footnotes, and also there are mammoths! It's a total delight from start to finish." --Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2024 on THE MARS HOUSE
"Pulley astonishes in this thorny and addictive sci-fi romance." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review on THE MARS HOUSE
"Natasha Pulley heads to the gulags, then to an atomic village, in her latest to combine fast-paced action and imaginative settings with beautifully developed queer relationships." --CrimeReads on THE HALF LIFE OF VALERY K
"Fans of such stories will be richly entertained by the lavish world-building and breakneck plotting of Natasha Pulley's The Kingdoms . . . Clear a weekend if you can, and let yourself be absorbed." --The New York Times Book Review on THE KINGDOMS
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