Aphrodite in Pieces

Experience the myth and magic of antiquity's most alluring-and provocative-goddess as never witnessed before, in this gorgeously rendered, unflinching, and deeply vulnerable retelling from the author of Mother of Rome and Medusa's Sisters. Two hundred years before the common era, Aphrodite surprises an itinerant sculptor with a shocking request: Hear my story, see me for who I truly am, and carve it into stone. Never before has the goddess posed for her likeness, and as the artist works, she shares pieces of herself. Her greatest triumphs and most grievous mistakes. The truth behind the tales of her beneficence and vengeance. And the one epic romance that slips through her perfect fingers, time and time again. Part memoir, part fantasy, and all heart, Aphrodite in Pieces begs the eternal, essential questions: what do love and beauty truly mean? And can they last?

Lauren J.A. Bear was born in Boston and raised in Long Beach. After graduating from UCLA and LMU, she taught middle-school for over a decade. She is a teaching fellow for the Holocaust Center for Humanity, and lives in Seattle with her husband and three young children. Medusa's Sisters is her debut novel.