The King of Ithaca is a liberating, lyrical retelling of The Odyssey through the lens of Private Barrett.
He once believed he was everything he always wanted to be—a star athlete, a devoted husband, and a proud father. But when the adoration fades and melancholy seeps in, he enlists in the army, searching for meaning in the churn of the Vietnam War. What begins as a quest for glory and worth becomes a decade-long exile. Wounded and presumed dead, Barrett finds refuge in a quiet village where he finds a new life—and love—with Liên, a woman who sees the broken man behind the scars.
As his body heals, he must overcome addiction and find his way through enemy lines to start his voyage westward— across an ocean of regret. He doesn’t know what awaits him back in Ithaca: a son he barely knows, a wife he’s betrayed, a life shattered.
Can a man who’s been lost for nearly ten years ever truly be found? Can he be more than a shadow of who he once was— or will everyone see him as the monster he fears he’s become?
Sweeping and intimate, The King of Ithaca is rooted in myth and rich in emotional depth. It is a journey of self-discovery, exploring the bond between father and son and the universal longing to be worthy of love. In the end, it is a story about finding the light we bring to others— and letting it guide us home.
Author Quinn Makenna
When a man searching for identity is MIA in the Vietnam War, he must first find himself and then find out how he fits back into his family once again.
The Odyssey and Circe during the events of The Women, in the style of The Emperor of Gladness.
Author Quinn Makenna 