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The Palace of Eros

A Novel

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About The Book

“It’s a literary gift to see gender expansiveness depicted in an ancient myth with such grace and ease.” —Electric Literature

Fans of Circe and Black Sun, “prepare to be astonished” (R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries) with this bold and subversive feminist and queer retelling of the Greek myth of Psyche and Eros.

Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eyes of every suitor in town with her tempestuous beauty, which has made her irresistible as a woman yet undesirable as a wife. Secretly, she longs for a life away from the expectations of men. When her father realizes that the future of his family and town will be forever cursed unless he appeases an enraged Aphrodite, he follows the orders of the Oracle, tying Psyche to a rock to be ravaged by a monstrous husband. And yet a monster never arrives.

When Eros, nonbinary deity of desire, sees Psyche, she cannot fulfill her promise to her mother Aphrodite to destroy the mortal young woman. Instead, Eros devises a plan to sweep Psyche away to a palace, hidden from the prying eyes of the gods and outside world. There, Eros and Psyche fall in love. Each night, Eros visits Psyche under the cover of impenetrable darkness, where they both experience untold passion and love. But each morning, Eros flies away before light comes to break the spell of the palace that keeps them safe.

Before long, Psyche’s nights spent in pleasure turn to days filled with doubts, as she grapples with the cost of secrecy and the complexities of freedom and desire. Restless and spurred by her sisters to reveal Eros’s true nature, she breaks her trust and forces a reckoning that tests them both—and transforms the very heavens in this “brilliant and luminous” (Madeline Miller, New York Times bestselling author) epic.

About The Author

Photograph © Lori Eanes
Caro De Robertis

Caro De Robertis is the award-winning and bestselling author of several books, including The Palace of Eros, The President and the Frog, Cantoras, and more. Their work has been translated into eighteen languages and has garnered numerous honors including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two Stonewall Book Awards, Italy’s Rhegium Julii Prize, and the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, which they were the first openly nonbinary person to receive. De Robertis is also an award-winning literary translator and a professor at San Francisco State University. They live in Oakland, California, with their two children. Find out more at CaroDeRobertis.com.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Atria/Primero Sueno Press (August 13, 2024)
  • Length: 320 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781668035238

Raves and Reviews

The Palace of Eros is a riveting, sublime, magical, and wildly subversive meditation on love, sex, mythology, and belonging ... brilliant and beautiful and erotic and insightful and unlike anything I've ever read. I couldn't ask for more.”

Cristina García, author of Dreaming in Cuban and Vanishing Maps

“Caro De Robertis is a brilliant and luminous writer.”

Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles

"De Robertis’ prose is as sharp and beautiful as ever. Their meditations on gender, desire, and freedom soar off the page. The author’s retelling provides a space to dream of a world where those 'born perfect yet outside the rules' of their time may find ways to step out of the shadows and into the light. A vulnerable, sensual, and joyous journey about living and loving in one’s truth."

Kirkus Reviews

“Caro De Robertis is the reason I read. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her characters, who are fierce, courageous and adventurous. Her powerful storytelling captivates the reader from start to finish.”

Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana

“Caro De Robertis casts a bright light with all her work...Her voice is what we need to bring us back to wholeness.”

Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The House of Broken Angels

“Caro De Robertis is a force: prepare to be astonished.”

R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

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