Myths and legends are filled with women who have been reduced to a single label: the beautiful one, the unfaithful wife, the dangerous temptress, or simply the woman standing beside a celebrated hero. But behind those labels are far more complicated stories.
Today, I’m joined by Phoenicia Rogerson, author of Herc, Aphrodite, and her latest novel, Isolde. Together, we explore how she takes figures we think we know and uncovers the quieter, stranger, and deeply human moments that traditional legends often leave behind.
We discuss the many conflicting versions of Arthurian legend of Tristan and Isolde, the tension between fate and free will, and how Isolde navigates her competing identities as a princess, healer, daughter, queen, and woman in love. But this conversation is also about how these stories are created. Phoenicia takes us inside her writing process, from following research rabbit holes and drawing details from different traditions to plotting scenes with Post-it notes across her dining-room table. She shares how writing unpublished “secret chapters” helps her understand characters such as Merlin and Hera, why historical context matters when judging morally complicated choices, and how she balances an accessible contemporary voice with the unfamiliar worlds of myth and legend.
Why do these ancient stories continue to captivate us? Perhaps it is because every generation, and every writer, can uncover something new within them. Today, Phoenicia Rogerson invites us to look beyond the legend of Isolde and discover the complicated woman at its heart.
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