Wow, towards the end I really got slapped on the head by the feminist message of this book. And I´m afraid, I didn´t like it. And the chorus parts with the maids and the allusions to modern day times throughout this book really annoyed me.

So in short, this book clearly didn´t work for me.

I was somewhat trepiditious coming to this after The Handmaid's Tale, which, whilst very good, I found to be heavy going. However, Atwood gives the ghost of Penelope a very modern, chatty voice which is very easy to read. Since the book is also short, this disappeared very rapidly!

Penelope delivers a monologue occassionally interrupted by a Chorus - which is the exact structure of early Greek drama. The Chorus consist of the ghosts of the 12 Maids hanged by Odysseus and the book is as much about them as Penelope in some respects.

There's a common theme across this and The Handmaid's Tale of women rendered powerless by the society they live in but trying to assert their humanity nevertheless.

This is much easier to read than The Handmaid's Tale.

So, what was going on back home while Odysseus was off fighting/getting lost/adventuring/philandering for twenty years?

This task was hard.

And because I'm clearly lacking books that feature women holding flowers, I had to stretch my interpretation of the task. And by stretch I mean, stopping just short of a post-modern expressive dance interpretation of what can be understood as woman holding a flower. 

It would not have been a pretty sight.

So, count yourselves lucky to not have to see it.

Anyway, I have listed my covers above and there are a few more than five, just in case some should not work...

So, we have one actual cover with a woman holding flowers. Atwood to the rescue. 

Then we have a girl holding flowers - Heidi. Still close enough, I guess.

Then we have a Vera of Ladies of Letters sporting a buttonhole flower. 

The Deceased Miss Blackwell on top the grave is holding a rose. 

Juliet has a flower-shaped earring.

A flower in a hat on the cover of A Talent for Murder, and finally...

Flowers in hair on the cover of Geisha, a Life.

I had to wade through more than 2500 covers on my combined shelves to even get the ones I listed. Seriously, this was a hard task.