The sea will have its way. Whether to draw men to their doom far from home, or wash clean the scars of broken hearts. Yes, the sea will always have its way…
Odysseus’ sailing to the war in faraway Troy forever altered the fate of his island kingdom, Ithaca, and everyone he loved. He returned as a man harboring secrets and haunted by the darkness of his past. A darkness that could not be erased by the passing of time.
In a masterful twist of Homer’s tale, the king of Ithaca who crossed the sea and returned twenty years later, has found no respite in his island home.
Nostos is a historical novel that will transport you to the ancient landscapes of Greece during an era bathed in myth, legends, and heroes. It was a time when war and love were waged with equal passion, and a place where the lives of men were inextricably bound to the whims of the sea.
Until his return, it was only the traces of Odysseus that lingered in the hearts and minds of his wife and son, and the people of Ithaca. It was the ghost of the man they remembered, loved, and longed for. And it was the distant horizon of the sea between them that kept those hopes and dreams alive, their souls bound by the safety of separation.
His return would shatter the myth they all wanted to believe.
This daring and complex reimagining brings new depth to the characters. Odysseus is a broken shell of the man he once was. Against all expectations, he fails to become the king, the husband, and the father he used to be.
Instead, he withdraws into the recesses of his own mind, roaming the palace and fantasizing about his long-ago exploits as a fearsome warrior. Haunted by a prophecy, that he would someday die at the hands of his own son, he sends Telemachus into exile, and finds himself despised by the wife and child he fought so hard to come home to. Even the people of Ithaca, tired of listening to his dreamy tales, consider him mad and mock him.
Until, he is drawn by his dark fate to cross the sea again.
A force, a so-called daemon from the West, beckons him to sail for one more battle. Perhaps his final battle. On a ship crewed by fifty warriors, Odysseus launches on his last voyage into the arms his beloved sea.
Penelope, once again, is left to fend for herself and the people of Ithaca, and repel the wolves who aspire to seize control of the kingdom. Not surprisingly, the biggest threat is Aginor, her lover, a treacherous man who believes that this sea daemon is a sign from the gods, and a chance to get rid of Odysseus once and for all.
But before setting sail, Odysseus secretly sends a ship to retrieve Telemachus and return him to Ithaca. Mother and son will be side-by-side in a battle for the throne, and for the survival of the island.
As days go by, everyone realizes that nothing is as it seems; Odysseus may not be a madman after all. Instead, the cunning conqueror of Troy may have saved a last trick for the world.
More than a mythical story of conflict and struggle, Nostos is a uniquely portrayed canvas of Greek history and lore, painting between the lines of the old fables. While the stormy sea has once again drawn Odysseus away from his family in search of his destiny, the distance between them will reveal their true bonds and the hero they once knew…
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