THOSE FATAL FLOWERS by Shannon Ives

5 stars

A brilliant women-centric retelling of the story of Proserpina, goddess of spring and daughter of Ceres goddess of the , who gets stolen off by the lord of the underworld after eating pomegranate seeds. Before Proserpina gets stolen away, Thelia and her two older sisters serve as Proserpina’s handmaidens, and Thelia has a budding teen romance with her. After the kidnapping, Ceres in her rage banishes the sisters as Sirens to a remote island and changes them into half women and half flying animal bodies but allows them to retain their hypnotic singing voices that lure men and ships to crash upon their shore. In their monstrous forms, the women sacrifice men to Ceres in hopes of forgiveness, to no avail. The fates of the Sirens ultimately will fall into the hands of Proserpina.

Meanwhile, blended into this is an imaginative intersection the creation of a new myth centered on the lost American colony of Roanoke. Thanks to Proserpina’s help and the request that the sisters sacrifice the lives of many men in her honor, Thelia manages to escape the island in her human body and sets sail to lure men back to the sister’s island. She arrives carrying jewels and gold from the ships that have crashed on the island and offers more for a husband and men up for taking more of the spoils. In a colony dominated by mostly cruel men, Thelia discovers a new love in Cora, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Proserpina.

Ultimately, the story centers on female empowerment, and the complex strength (and in Ceres case destruction) of women’s relationships with each other. It also joins the group of amazing books that have emerged the past couple of years that retell myths from a keen imagined women’s perspective in sharp contrast the storytelling over the centuries based on men’s accounts.

The language borders on the poetic, so incandescent that you find yourself slowly down your reading to simply absorb its luminosity.

Thanks to Random House, Ballantine & Dell, and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.