An Unexpected Ally: A Greek Tale of Love, Revenge, and Redemption

(Paperback)

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Powerful Circe, daughter of the sun-god Helios, is sad to see Odysseus, King of Ithaca, depart from her island, Aeaeabut her heartbreak is eased after dolphins take her to Delos, where she explores a new love relationship.

Circe has a strained relationship with her mother, Perse, but when she finally listens to Perses encouragement to seek out the amphibian god Glaucus, shes glad shes heeded her advice. Together, the two embark on underwater adventures, and Circe shares with Glaucus her knowledge about the healing and harmful power of herbs. While in Delos, she also meets and befriends Skylla, a local beauty with whom Glaucus is enthralled, although the girl is indifferent.

Circe eventually returns to Aeaea, but one day she learns, upon consulting her scrying mirror, that there is trouble in Delos that requires her immediate action. In the turbulent world of gods mingling with mortals, our heroine shifts shapes, flies, and uses her superpowers to reverse the course of evil.

In a tangle of love, hate, vengeance, and the final righting of wrongs, a cast of irresistible characters weaves an adventure laced with beauty and terror in An Unexpected Allya newly woven set of tales that brings to life ancient Greek myths and revives issues familiar to contemporary readers.

Reviews

Both young and old know the suffering of loves end . . . and the disaster of wrong attraction. But if you happen to be the sorceress Circea shape-shifter and spell-casterthe outcomes are unrestrained by human proportion. An unforgettable story of infatuation, tragic error, and redemption for readers of all ages.
Jean Gilbertson, author of Dancing on the Whisper of God

From the beginning pages, Sophia Kouidou-Giles pulls the reader into a magical world where Greek goddesses and gods come to life. With luminescent prose, she weaves a psychologically astute study of Circeeach chapter compels the reader on to the next. I found the novel absorbing and enlightening.
Kathryn Crawley, author of Walking on Fire: A Novel

In this playful yet deeply impactful romp of a novel, reimagined age-old tensions refresh familiar tropes from love triangles to the battle of the sexes. Quick-paced and wildly inventive, An Unexpected Allyentertains just as much as it informs, offering enduring insights into the complexitiesand compromisesthat women so often find themselves compelled to make in a male-dominated world, whether in the ancient world or today. Circe and her companions are freshly vibrant and surprisingly familiar; and their storypart reimagined myth, part contemporary critiquewill startle, surprise, and certainly leave you smiling.
Susan V. Meyers, author ofFailing the Trapeze

Author Bio

Sophia Kouidou-Giles was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was university educated in the US. She holds a bachelors degree in psychology and a masters in social work. In her more than thirty-year child welfare career, she served as a practitioner, educator, researcher, and administrator and published articles in Greek and English professional journals. Her writing has appeared in Voices, Persimmon Tree, Assay, The Raven's Perch, The Time Collection, and The Blue Nib. Her poetry chapbook is Transitions and Passages. Her work has appeared in anthologies including The Time Collection, Visual Verse, and Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis. Her memoir, /Return to Thessaloniki, was published in Greek by Tyrfi Press. The English version, Sophias Return: Uncovering My Mothers Past, was published by She Writes Press in 2021. Sophia lives in Seattle, Washington, near her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.