Hymn to Dionysus – Pulley Natasha (2026)

This English-language reimagining of the story of Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstasy and madness, revelry and ruin, follows Phaidros, who is raised in a Greek legion and taught to fight for a homeland he has never seen. When he rescues a baby from a fire at the palace in Thebes, his commander orders him to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple and keep the child’s existence secret. Years later, following a strange encounter that leads to the death of his battalion, Phaidros becomes a training master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, while veterans around him are also losing their minds. His troubles deepen when his life becomes entangled with Thebes’s young crown prince, who wants to escape the marriage arranged by his mother, the queen. When the prince disappears, Phaidros joins the search, which leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus. Dionysus’s guidance is wise, but the events surrounding him are strange. In his company, Phaidros witnesses riots and unrest, while rumours spread of a new god, sired by Zeus but lost in a fire. Set in an ancient empire on the edge of ruin, the novel tells the story of a man who needs a god to remind him how to be human.