Magic Cat pounces on Honor Cargill-Martin’s feminist Greek myths retelling
Magic Cat has snapped up a feminist retelling of Greek myths for ages seven-plus by “the new Mary Beard”, classicist Honor Cargill-Martin.
Senior editor Helen Brown bought world rights to She Speaks: The Girls of Greek Myths in Their Own Words, with the book to be illustrated by Vietnamese artist Camelia Pham. The deal was concluded with Clare Wallace at Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency and Kim Meech at Folio Art.
She Speaks is described as “a feminist spin on the classical stories from Greek mythology”, with Pandora, Medusa, Medea, Atalanta, Ariadne, Helen, Penthesilea and Circe telling their stories in the first person “with warmth, wit and humour”. The book is due to launch in July 2024 in the UK, with an American release to follow in October.
Cargill-Martin studied archaeology and ancient history at Oxford. Her first non-fiction book for adults, Messalina: The Life and Times of Rome’s Most Scandalous Empress (Head of Zeus) was published last year and is on the shortlist for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize.
Since the age of 16, Cargill-Martin and her mother, Perdita Cargill, have co-authored the YA romance trilogy Waiting for Callback and the middle-grade Diary of an Accidental Witch series. Cargill-Martin has also amassed more than 40,000 followers on TikTok.
Cargill-Martin said: “Like almost every classicist I know, the Greek myths were my first introduction to the ancient world. They have everything: epic journeys, magical transformations, family tragedies, cunning plans, courageous rescues; all threaded through with enduring insights into human nature.”
Brown added: “Amazing work has been published in the adult market in recent years to give voice to the extraordinary women of Greek mythology, and it’s about time we provide an illustrated book that brings these women to life for younger readers.”
