Alcestis is it to die. She will pay the ultimate price. Her husband Admetus was to be killed for slighting the goddess Artemis, but Alcestis will give her life instead. So the matter should rest – but the unexpected appearance of the hero Heracles complicates things. Alcestis finds herself defying her natural order of Hades, returned to life but unable to speak and unrecognised by her household. Can she break free or is she doomed to exist only as a shade?

GREAT WOMEN OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY is a series of short books for young and old introducing readers to ancient world through its heroines. These books aim to bring readers on a journey filled with excitement, drama, death and love, all while focussing on the women that have played such an important role in our history yet are still remembered aw mere bystanders.

While each book can be read separately, and in any order, there is an underlying thread that ultimately connects all these characters and provides a wider view of what it was to be a woman in the ancient Greek world.