This wasn’t at all what I was expecting. It turns out to be 44 Italo Calvino-like alternative riffs on episodes in the Odyssey and the Iliad, ranging from a paragraph to a few pages. We meet many different versions of Odysseus, but whether hero or coward he’s still recognisably the crafty, devious person who’s always been my favourite character.

The stories are variable, but when they’re good they’re very good. Excellent writing, and imaginative and unexpected turns, with some laugh out loud moments. I especially liked the one where Achilles dies from a snake bite and Odysseus, who has been ordered to recruit him at all costs, constructs a golem. It convinces, but is rather limited in its actions, sometimes accidentally killing its own side.

At Troy, Patroclus shared a tent with Achilles and it was widely assumed that they were lovers. In fact, Achilles was tireless, endlessly biddable and intelligent enough to cook, mend and polish, which allowed Patroclus to live in the indolent luxury he craved.

In another, Odysseus turns up at Troy but manages to avoid most of the combat. After the war he pretends to be a bard, making up stories of heroism (by both himself and others). After ten years of this he gives up and goes home, and is gratified when bards turn up and sing versions of his own tales back to him. The book ends with a vision of Troy as a tourist trap. I really recommend it if you are obsessed with retellings of Greek myth