A captivating literary debut, this modern love story and myth-inspired novel is a “ fearless interrogation of female desire, anger, and loneliness” (The Guardian) that takes place over seven days as a woman wrestles with a marriage proposal and what it means for her personal and creative freedom.
She’ s a waitress. He’ s a chef. They used to be best friends, but now… they’ re in love. She’ s also a selkie, a siren, Odysseus, Persephone, Helen of Troy, a Tudor queen, and a cowgirl called Quick Fingers. He’ s a really good man.
When he asks her to marry him, Hero panics. She may be a lot of things, but the one thing she doesn’ t want to be is anybody’ s wife. He gives her one week to decide, so to gather her thoughts, she begins to write him a letter. It is both the story of how they fell in love, and of who she is, and why marriage fills her with equal parts delight and terror.
Drawing on a rich history of myth and legend, and yet unmistakably one of the moment, Hero is a love story about what it means for women to be supporting characters in a world written by men. How can you be yourself when you are a product of other people’ s imaginations? How can you love another person and be free?
