Serendipity: A Tale in Four Reconstructions

by Marcus Attwater

Hippasus is one of the lost boys of Greek myth, unknown even to most classicists. Inspired by the fortuitous discovery of an earlier attempt at reconstruction, the narrator embarks on a new examination of the evidence in the hope of rescuing from obscurity an appealing story of broken vows, mistaken identity, confusing oracles, young love— and a dragon.

Genres: Fiction, Greek Mythology, Mythology

Paperback

Published September 1, 2021

About the author

Marcus Attwater writes mystery, fantasy and historical fiction. He is the owner of Attwater Books, a small publisher and bookseller in the Netherlands. Marcus is a social-media-shy person who believes the best way for authors to interact with readers is to give them stories, not updates. When he is not reading, writing, publishing or selling books (or sometimes when he is) Marcus enjoys listening to French baroque opera, watching Spanish football and looking at Gothic churches.

Reviews

[M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Instead of retelling a well-known myth, this book offers several interpretations of a single fragmentary story, resulting in four wildly differing versions and asking questions about what we really know about myth and about how our expectations shape the stories we read. Both thoughtful and playful, I really liked this.

[Kit88 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book looks at a fragmentary myth instead of a well-known one, reconstructing it in four very different versions. As a reader you are never sure how much of it is made up… By the end I was really fond of Hippasus.

[LizI · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a story and an essay in one. It not only recounts the history of a single fragmentary myth, but also manages to touch on societal changes since the first world war and how these changes reflect what we think we know about such myths.