In fierce, textured voices, the women of Ovid's Metamorphoses claim their stories and challenge the power of myth. Drawing on the rhythms of epic poetry and alt rock, of everyday speech and folk song, of fireside whisperings and therapy sessions, Nina MacLaughlin, the acclaimed author of Hammer Head, recovers what is lost when the stories of women are told and translated by men. She breathes new life into these fraught and well-loved myths.

Poems recount the stories of fourteen girls, some of whom later became famous, who performed acts of daring, determination, and heroic courage at a young age.