mestra – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Mythology Short Story
Length: 65 pages
Author: Madeline Miller
Publisher: Ecco Books
Release Date: September 29th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A brilliant new short story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Madeline Miller—her first new work of fiction since the publication of Circe—that vibrantly reimagines the powerful and forgotten myth of Mestra.

A cursed father, a gifted daughter

Mestra, daughter of the King of Thessaly, is granted a unique gift by Poseidon: the ability to transform into any being she can imagine.

Her father, on the other hand, is cursed: As punishment for disrespecting the goddess Demeter, he is in possession of an unnatural, insatiable hunger.

Devoted Mestra suggests using her new gift to help her father. But if his hunger is bottomless, how much will he take from her? Soon she must decide: Will she keep helping her father survive, or finally break free?

A jewel-like tale of human fallibility, Mestra confirms Madeline Miller as our high priestess of mythology.

Thank you Ecco Books for the gifted copy.

A SHORT REVIEW.

For a short book. I don’t have a lot to say about this one.

If you’re curious about the lore of Mestra from Greek mythology I think you will like this because it does provide her history. Anything I looked up online after basically had the same story so from a learning stand point it provides that information. But otherwise it is not an expansion or reimaging of Mestra’s tale.

It genuinely clocks in at 65 pages so it would be a quick read if you’re interested.

Overall audience notes;