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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: Review, Ending Explained and What Miller Changed from the Iliad

The Song of Achilles won the Orange Prize and, a decade later, took over BookTok. Hailey gives her spoiler-free review and six books to read next, then, after a spoiler warning, explains the heartbreaking ending and sorts out what comes from Homer's Iliad and what Madeline Miller invented. Bring tissues.

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Books mentioned in this episode
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
The Iliad (translated by Emily Wilson) by Homer
Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault

Chapters
0:00 Cold Open
0:19 Welcome
0:52 The Review
3:53 What To Read Next
6:16 Spoiler Warning
6:39 The Ending Explained
11:13 Myth Versus Miller
15:36 Outro

Scores, the full written review and the videos

Narrated by Hailey, the Book Explained host voice (AI-generated with Kokoro TTS).

Music
"Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Disquiet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0