Books like “Lavinia”

What to read after “Lavinia” by Ursula K. Le Guin: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Kaikeyi
Vaishnavi Patel · 2022
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
Born a princess and cast aside by her father, Kaikeyi claims a place at court and wins the love of a king. When war threatens her sons' future, she uses the boons she was granted to change the fate of a kingdom.
2
Bridge of Birds
Barry Hughart · 1984
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Ancient World
- Mythology Retelling
In an ancient China that never was, a plague falls on the children of a village. Number Ten Ox seeks the sage Master Li, a scholar with 'a slight flaw in his character', and the two set off through ghosts, gods and bandits to find the one cure that can save the children.
3
The Penelopiad
Margaret Atwood · 2005
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
From the underworld, Penelope tells her side of the long wait for Odysseus, while the twelve hanged maids answer with their own chorus. The familiar myth is retold from the women the epic left out.
4
A Thousand Ships
Natalie Haynes · 2019
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
The Trojan War told through its women: queens, captives, mothers and goddesses who wait, grieve and endure while the men fight and die. From the Greek camp to the burning city, their voices answer the old story that left them out.
5
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller · 2011
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
- War Fiction
Patroclus, a prince in disgrace, is sent to train under Achilles, the golden boy destined for glory. Their friendship deepens into love as the Trojan War calls them both toward a fate only one of them will regret.
6
Ariadne
Jennifer Saint · 2021
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
Princess Ariadne helps Theseus escape the labyrinth, then is abandoned on a shore where Dionysus finds her. She must decide how much of her story to give away to a god, and what freedom is worth.
7
The Mists of Avalon
Marion Zimmer Bradley · 1982
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
- Prophecy
The Arthurian legend is told through the women around the throne, above all Morgaine, a priestess of Avalon. As Britain turns to a new faith and a new king, she works to keep the old ways alive and watches the cost of a united kingdom.
8
I, Claudius
Robert Graves · 1934
Same genre: “Historical fiction”
- Ancient World
The emperor Claudius, dismissed by his family as a stammering fool, writes the hidden history of the Julio-Claudian house. From Augustus to the reign of Caligula he records the poisonings, exiles and betrayals that shaped Rome, and how he survived them by being thought harmless.
9
Circe
Madeline Miller · 2018
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
Born to a sun god, Circe is banished to a lonely island for her forbidden magic. She hones her craft, meets travellers and monsters, and slowly chooses what kind of immortal she wants to be.
10
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
Sue Lynn Tan · 2022
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
Xingyin grows up alone on the moon, hidden from the emperor who exiled her mother for stealing an elixir of immortality. When her magic is discovered she flees, conceals her identity at the celestial court and trains as a warrior to win her mother's freedom.
11
The Bear and the Nightingale
Katherine Arden · 2017
From the same world: “Mythology Retelling”
- Mythology Retelling
In a northern village at the edge of the Russian wilderness, Vasya grows up hearing the old house spirits and fairy tales her stepmother forbids. When new winters bring a creeping evil, only Vasya, who can still see the spirits, can bargain with the forces threatening her home.
12
The Wolf Den
Elodie Harper · 2021
Same genre: “Historical fiction”
- Ancient World
Sold into slavery after her father's death, Amara works in a brothel in Pompeii, owned by a man she hates. She hides her education and waits, building ties with the other women and looking for a way out, in a city where even a slave can sometimes buy back her freedom.