These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $15.92

Save: $8.43 (53%)

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

On Wine-Dark Seas: A Novel of Odysseus and His Fatherless Son Telemachus Kindle Edition

3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 126 ratings

A masterful continuation of the journey of Odysseus after he returned home from his odyssey. 

Here is a brilliant recounting of the life of Odysseus after his safe return to the island of Ithaca, his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. Countless readers have thrilled to the adventures of Odysseus in
The Iliad and The Odyssey, but what further adventures awaited him after his ten years of war and ten years of wandering?  

Narrated by Telemachus to the bard Phemios,
On Wine-Dark Seas speaks of the human drama of a man gone twenty years from home and family, a man who saw Troy on the night of its destruction, a man who lives the special quest which is his destiny. In probing the inner journeys of a son and father separated twenty years who must come to terms with each other and their ruthless slaughter of the suitors of Penelope, it reveals the doubts and joys of Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus.

As Telemachus tells Phemios: “My father will be known to the future not as the man he was, but as the man of whom you sing. Often at Troy he called himself ‘the father of Telemachus,’ so I too have a part to speak in his story. Wealthy men can pay some poets to chant a story first this way, then another. I cannot offer you wealth to hear me, but only the truth I know.”       

The novel is a masterful recreating of the ancient mind, the landscape of Greece steeped in mythos and the gods, and the human dramas of characters made famous for all time by
The Iliad and The Odyssey

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A towering triumph of poetic imagination. . . . as entertaining and compelling as the epics were to the Greeks of old.” —CHRISTOPHER VOGLER, author of The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

"Odysseus changes from myth to man, from absent and fearless adventurer to challenged father in this stunning and wise story of his return to Ithaca, his slaying of the suitors, and his last years. A compelling, original, and brilliant novel. You ’ll never forget it.” —
NICK LYONS, author of Fire in the Straw

“Crawford captures the essence of myth. Unfolding his story from the inside out—as if something magical is being born—he uses the timeless Trojan Cycle from which Homer shaped The Odyssey to paint the challenges of Odysseus’s life on Ithaca with grown son, aging wife, and the relatives of the slaughtered suitors. Passionate and wise, this is a novel to savor.” —
DANA C. WHITE, PhD, Host/Producer of The Myth Salon

“Read it aloud, so that it immerses your ears and engages your tongue with sounds uncommonly heard these days but sounds that carry a clarion call to what we have lost from the past but sorely need for the future. Bravo!” —
RUSSELL LOCKHART, author of Psyche Speaks and Words as Eggs

“Heroes and legends, fathers and sons, long journeys home, and then what happens after. This is a meticulously researched, felt, and necessary exploration of a forgotten and unexplored corner of what might very well be the greatest and most enduring story ever told.”  —
CHRISTOPHER COSMOS, author of Once We Were Here
 

About the Author

TAD CRAWFORD is the author of A Floating Life: A Novel as well as The Secret Life of Money and a dozen other nonfiction books. His lectures have brought mythology alive at venues such as the New York Open Center, Wainwright House, and the Analytical Psychology Club of New York. The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award, Crawford is the founder and publisher of Allworth Press. He lives in New York City.

 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09RX448J3
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse (January 3, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 3, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2374 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 249 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 126 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tad Crawford
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Tad Crawford is an author, publisher, and attorney. His most recent work is On Wine-Dark Seas: A Novel of Odysseus and His Fatherless Son Telemachus, which was recently published by Arcade. In exploring what might have happened after The Odyssey, Crawford celebrates the ongoing power of mythmaking and creates a powerful exploration of the relationship between fathers and sons.

It was a dream about his own father that first inspired Crawford to write this novel. “In the dream my father was a wounded Greek youth,” he explains. “He had been wounded in the ankle and I picked him up and carried him down into a necropolis, a city of the dead, and as I carried him farther and farther, he became lighter and lighter. That dream led to research going back to The Iliad, The Odyssey, other epics lost in antiquity that formed The Trojan Cycle of eight poems, and many other Greek myths that give life to this novel of Odysseus as the archetypal absent father who struggles in seeking a bond with his adult son.”

Crawford is also the author of a previous novel, A Floating Life, about a man going through his midlife crisis (and a divorce) who finds a mentor to help guide him. Kirkus described the novel as “odd, offbeat and strangely shimmering,” Booklist praised its “elements of the picaresque and magic realism, blended with quirky, surreal humor,” and The New York Journal of Books stated that “his refreshing style brings surprise and fun back into fiction.”

Crawford’s love of mythology and folktales also led to a depth exploration of the psychology of money in a nonfiction book titled The Secret Life of Money. Publishers Weekly opined, “the book should enlighten those who tend to view money only in the most literal terms.”

Crawford grew up in the artist’s colony of Woodstock, New York, graduated from Columbia Law School, served as General Counsel for the Graphic Artists Guild, and played an active role in advocating for artists' rights. He has written extensively on the legal aspects of creative work, including Legal Guide for the Visual Artist (now in its 6th edition and co-authored by MJ Bogatin). In 1989 he founded Allworth Press, which has become a leading publisher of books on business for creative fields. The company (now an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing) has published over 400 books on topics such as fine art, graphic design, photography, writing, theater, and entrepreneurship.

Customer reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars
126 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They describe it as a well-told tale that explores the psychological drama of Odysseus. The story is complex and illuminates a powerful story of heartache and broken dreams.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
4 customers mention "Pacing"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's pacing and find it imaginative. They describe it as an engaging, thought-provoking page-turner that explores the psychological drama of Odysseus. The author's immersion in Greek mythology illuminates a powerful story of heartache. The complex exploration of the female psyche is incredible. The book focuses on emotion and moral issues, as well as adventure, war, murder, and redemption.

"...His book is a timeless, thought-provoking page-turner, a thoroughly engaging and highly imaginative psychological masterpiece...." Read more

""On Wine-Dark Seas" is a compelling novel that explores the psychological drama of Odysseus, the wandering Greek warrior, after his return home to..." Read more

"...With emphasis on emotion and moral issues, as well as adventure, war, murder and redemption, I closed the book hoping for a sequel." Read more

"Wonderful! Insightful Odysseus...." Read more

4 customers mention "Story quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the story engaging and complex. They appreciate the well-told tale that explores psychological themes. The mythology illuminates a powerful story of heartache and broken dreams.

"...for his book and enabled him to develop such an intricate, complex saga, while remaining true to the original in spirit, voice and intent...." Read more

""On Wine-Dark Seas" is a compelling novel that explores the psychological drama of Odysseus, the wandering Greek warrior, after his return home to..." Read more

"On Wine Dark Seas is an exquisitely written story delving into the psychology of Homer’s Iliad and Oddyssey characters, a father, mother and son...." Read more

"...Well told tale. I loved the read." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2023
    Interesting but dry. It lacks the magic of and emotion of Circe and other imaginings of this era that have been published in the last twenty years.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2023
    I liked the narrative contrivance: Telemachus is telling the tale of his father, Odysseus, to Phemios, the old bard of Ithaca. But the story recalled by Telemachus and in the paradoxical tales told by his father, there is much that denies itself; reality shifts between the true and the told and often deconstructs its own telling. But, finally, the excellent prose made it all work, and I loved it. However, at times the extended narrative seemed to be losing its direction and put the book down for a few days. It all came together, howeve.

    I was not sure what I was reading as I descended into the novel. The tale reminds us of the many betrayals, murders, and horrible deeds Odysseus is said to have committed; but then in the next breath Odysseus, talking to Telemachus, puts forth rationalizations or excuses for those same deeds. Was I reading a confessional or an apologia? (Is it possible to justify taking a baby by its feet and smashing out its brains?) There's not much attempt to flesh out the background characters as Telemachus, Odysseus, and Penelope are the focus. (My favourite hero, Diomedes, a good friend of Odysseus, barely exists. Good thing I took care of that in my own book!)

    The novel was based on known mythology (and beyond), so I shouldn't expect historicity but Odysseus being washed in sudsy soap and the mention of the "finest silk" were jarring anachronisms in Bronze Age Hellas. However, Tad Crawford is certainly well-versed in the entire Trojan War cycle of poems and later dramas, in spite of their contradictions.

    I loved the way Odysseus is portrayed as an existentialist to the core. The gods are real, yet they are limited. He rejects immortality with Calypso and life with Circe because their bland unchanging lives remind him of the shades in Hades. "By refusing immortality, I showed myself a man. The epithet godlike no longer described me." (179) But, at the same time he admits to the possibility of a transcendence beyond words and beyond this world: "In this immaterial night, we would be as the cosmos—elemental, pervasive, greater than the Olympian gods themselves. We would become the is-not beyond language to describe." (194). By the end of the novel, he embraces without terror whatever is to come: "'Whatever hounds of hell or choas wait,' he whispered, 'lead on'." (211)

    The prose is certainly not on the level of, say, Nikos Kazantzakis' *The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel* (1958), which is basically poetry, but Crawford's prose is poetic and by the end I had fully embraced it. I very much enjoyed his "Sources and Reflections" after the main text ends. Jung, Eliot, Kerenyi, etc. – all my favourite sources too. I understand his major point about the transpersonal source of the creative and appreciate it very much.

    The book is nothing like the fantasy mythic tales of Madeline Miller, etc. And I thank the gods for that.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2023
    My first thought on reading that On Wine-Dark Seas is a sequel to Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey was “hubris.” Tad Crawford, however, soars to meet the challenge. In fact, he creates an entirely new genre combining the best of poetry, mythology, and novel. His notes and reflections at the end of the book were illuminating--revealing the breadth and depth of research that formed the rich foundation for his book and enabled him to develop such an intricate, complex saga, while remaining true to the original in spirit, voice and intent. His book is a timeless, thought-provoking page-turner, a thoroughly engaging and highly imaginative psychological masterpiece. His complex exploration of the female psyche was incredible. You’ll be amazed to see how a book could be so original yet so true to its ancient roots.
    8 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2023
    "On Wine-Dark Seas" is a compelling novel that explores the psychological drama of Odysseus, the wandering Greek warrior, after his return home to his wife Penelope and their son Telemachus. Tad Crawford's awesome immersion in Greek mythology illuminates a powerful story of heartache and broken dreams that serves as an archetypal story about a common pattern in our own 21st Century America: of children abandoned by their fathers in so many different ways. Too many men are lost to drugs or alcohol or the streets, are locked away from their families for decades in our overflowing prisons, or killed or damaged in our useless wars.

    What happens to their children, as they grow up with a confused mother who is torn between loyalty to their absent father and her own needs for a fulfilled life? Telemachus yearns to have children of his own, but he lives in isolation as he witnesses his father's descent into the mists of his fantasies and demons. This chilling allegory reminds me that the past is always with us.

    Alma Robinson, Executive Director
    California Lawyers for the Arts
    18 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2023
    Thank you Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing!
    This story is for anyone who would like to envision what life was like after the Odyssey. The story follows Telemachus's point of view when he and his father killed the suitors. Odysseus is a closed-off man who still lives his life as a warrior. In order to gain pardon for killing the suitors he ventures away to make sacrifices to Poseidon. Penelope and Odysseus' relationship is a bit strained. he just came home and he leaves again. She and Telemachus aren't afraid to voice their concerns about him. Yet Odysseus doesn't really talk about the 20 years he has been away from them. I really enjoyed reading this book, albeit it had a slow start. I enjoyed reading it from Telemachus's perspective. He has many questions just like we readers. The story has stated my wondering.
    5 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023
    On Wine Dark Seas is an exquisitely written story delving into the psychology of Homer’s Iliad and Oddyssey characters, a father, mother and son. I have not read Homer in many years, but Mr. Crawford’s follow-up to the ancient epics pulled me right back into the mythology and the moods, reawakening an old interest in classical literature. With emphasis on emotion and moral issues, as well as adventure, war, murder and redemption, I closed the book hoping for a sequel.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2023
    Each chapter is repetitive and boring -- ad nauseum. I do congratulate the author in imitating the style of ancient writers. They write at great length as well.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2023
    A truly great end that lives as big and bold as the life of Odysseus! It fits so appropriately with the love of Greek’s rich culture of tragedy, loss and love - and the quest to overcome all. Well told tale. I loved the read.
    One person found this helpful
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?