Gentlest of Wild Things

Eirene and her sister Phoebe live on the Island of Zakynthos, in what appears to be the period of Ancient Greece; when belief in the gods and their descendants is still strong.  The most powerful man on the island is Leandros, who claims to be a descendant of Eros, and who has become wealthy selling bottled elixirs of Desire to the well off from his own and other islands.  The liquid appears to make the men attractive to those that the wish to marry.  When Leandros’s wife mysteriously dies, he sets his sights on Phoebe, so Eirene decides to offer herself in her sister’s place.  The offer is provisionally accepted, but only if Eirene can complete four almost impossible tasks; otherwise, he will marry Phoebe instead.  After she arrives at his house, we are introduced to Lamia, the mysterious daughter of Leandros, who secretly begins to help with the tasks.  As the girls grow closer, they begin to investigate how Desire is made and what its effects really are.  Importantly they need to find out why Lamia is kept hidden from the world and why so many young girls seem to disappear.

This is a striking mix of mythology and magic.  There are two really strong themes throughout the book; firstly, we have the growing love between the two girls and their very gradual understanding of those feelings, but they also have love for their families; although it is difficult to understand why Lamia loves her father.  Which brings us to the other theme, which is the concept of male domination and power over women.  Throughout the book we have the example of Leandros and the way he manipulates and threatens the women in his life; he is the epitome of someone who uses coercive methods to get his own way.  We also have the fact that the drug called Desire is used by the men who buy it to make their targets submissive and believe that they are in love with the man.  This is a thought-provoking story, that still has so many lessons for us in our modern world.  There is so much discussion that can be had in the classroom, particularly about why we still have so many of these attitudes and behaviours today.