The Palace of Eros
Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction
The Palace of Eros
Mood
Romantic, Tender
Parental Rating
R
Aphrodite, jealous of the mortal Psyche's beauty, orders her child Eros, the nonbinary deity of desire, to destroy the young woman. Instead Eros falls in love and spirits Psyche away to a hidden palace, where the two marry on the condition that Psyche never look upon Eros in the light. Their love grows in darkness while Aphrodite's wrath waits outside the palace walls, and Psyche's longing to truly see her lover threatens everything. De Robertis retells the Psyche and Eros myth through a queer and feminist lens, meditating on gender, desire, and the freedom that love can win against the will of the gods.