Weight

Condemned to shoulder the world forever by the gods he dared defy, freedom seems unattainable to Atlas. But then he receives an unexpected visit from Heracles, the one man strong enough to share the burden . . .

Jeanette Winterson's retelling of the myth of Atlas and Heracles asks difficult and eternal questions about the nature of choice and coercion. Visionary and inventive, Weight turns the familiar on its head to show us ourselves in a new light.

The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.

Review: Playful, expansive and full of heart * * The Times * *
A touching meditation on the difficult journey to self-knowledge, and also extremely funny, communicating verve and wit * * Guardian * *
Profound and provocative * * Daily Mail * *
Inspired by a Titan, [Winterson] begins appropriately on a titanic scale . . . bringing her musings home to the human scale * * Sunday Times * *
Winterson's embrace of the mythic landscape is evident in her rich imagery . . . Dazzling * * New York Times * *
A masterpiece * * Scotland on Sunday * *
Alternatively earthy and mythopoetic, funny, meditative and personal . . . Winterson artfully illustrates the interplay of free will and destiny, desire and responsibility * * Independent on Sunday * *
Weight is a masterpiece . . . Rewrites and reconfirms what fiction is, was, and might become * * Scotland on Sunday * *
Transcendent . . . It's not the weight of her intellect that strikes you but its lightness, an unembarrassed vigour that seems to lead it along a tightrope of sanity * * Herald * *
Winterson's precise prose explores issues of loneliness, responsibility and freedom with clarity and vision, offering the gift of seeing things afresh * * The Good Book Guide * *