Greek Myths just won't die by Jennifer Claessen

Author Jennifer Classen shares some insights into her book, Netta Becker and the Timeline Crime!

Greek myths just won’t die by Jennifer Classen

I had the idea for the book which is now the snappily-titled ‘Netta Becker and the Timeline Crime’ on 1st September 2021. It is the first book of a trilogy and is set in the past. (As you can probably guess, book 2 is in the present and book 3, the future!)

Our protagonist, Netta, experiences prickles all over her body and sees visions? – hallucinations? – and has to solve the mystery of what is happening to her and why. (The answer is, as you can also guess: time travel!)

I think of the Netta Becker trilogy as being half-way between Percy Jackson and Maz Evan’s ‘Who Let the Gods Out’ series – so hopefully for everyone, not just classicists (though I do want the classicists to know I’ve done my homework on Minoan era Crete!) The reason Netta travels to Ancient Greece is definitely due to the curriculum too; I’ve shifted from the Celtic myths of my first trilogy to Icarus and Daedalus at student-request when visiting Key Stage Two classrooms!

The influence of Greek myths is really strong – I’m a very enthusiastic person and only when getting deep into the research for this trilogy did I discover that zeal comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from enthous, meaning ‘possessed or inspired by a god’. And I do feel possessed by these ancient stories, reminders that the human heart has not evolved. We still have the same concerns: getting lost, finding home, our relationships with our families, what and who to believe.

There’s no right or wrong way to read myths – they are a buffet of stories to be picked up whenever and wherever suits – and I know they are meaningful to me because I read versions aged 5, aged 7, aged 9 etc. Each reread illuminates a new angle and even now that I’m (cough, cough) quite old, I am still discovering depths to the myths.

Greek myths dominate my horizon because they are not just stories but full performances. My background is in theatre where Sophocles (over 2000 years old) is still regularly on the stage. I want new translations, new stagings, new actors bringing themselves to the script but the stories themselves are almost dangerously relevant: female defiance, democracy at risk, war under egotistical men all ring loud in 2025.

For adult readers, authors like Madeline Miller and Jennifer Saint have opened new windows in the world of Greek myths too and my aim to do the same for 8-12 year olds: we see the ‘hero’ Theseus age across Netta’s trilogy but he is not the focus, instead I am interested in Ariadne, Antigone, Helena.

You won’t find the glory of the heroes here; Hercules, Odysseus and pals have all had a lot of airtime over the last few thousand years. And it is important that we look at Greek myths in a wide cannon of other myth and legend – The Boy to Beat the Gods by Ashley Thorpe is about the orisha of Yoruba myth who are startlingly fresh to Western audiences.

I hope young readers of Netta Becker enjoy the adventure (you might have guessed quite a lot – but can you guess what is in the middle of the maze?) and if, as a side effect of a mythical diet, we end up with children who feel empowered to tell their own story, challenge every assumption and make their own interpretations, then I think Sophocles would be happy with that!

Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation.