What happens when our oldest stories fail us? When all the rules have changed? The classic myth of Persephone — reimagined for a modern-day reader.
Persephone spends six months under the ground with her husband, king of the dead, and six months on earth with her mother, goddess of the harvest. It has been this way for nine thousand years. But when she emerges this spring, something is different. Rains lash the land, crops grow out of season or not at all, there are people trying to build a road through the woods, and her mother does not seem able to stop them. The natural world is changing rapidly and even the gods have lost control. While Demeter tries to regain her powers and fend off her daughter’s husband, who wants to drag his queen back underground for good, Persephone finally gets a taste of freedom. But what will this mean for her mother, her husband, and for the new shoots of life inside her?
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‘Artfully transporting classic myth to the present, this is the tale of Persephone, of the stories behind why our seasons change, and “how climate change is stretching and breaking the rules that have long kept the natural world in rhythm”.’
" - The Bookseller
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‘No Season But The Summer is strongest when it uses the conflict between immortality and decay to make us think about the climate crisis.’
" - TLS
