It is a reproduction of a famous photo of Kate wearing a reporter’s shirt, holding open her notebook while looking intently at the subject of an interview.īy recognizing Kate, who covered the Vietnam War for United Press International, as a “woman in war,” the stamp quietly acknowledges what has been glossed over in the annals of the conflict. I’m also going to be at an event tomorrow (Friday the 9 th September!) with the wonderful Jennifer Saint at Waterstones Piccadilly, will be at Waterstones Brentwood on September 23 rd, Fantasycon on September 17 th, and if you’re in Spain I’ll be at Hispacon October 7 th-9 th, merrily chatting books and playing chess.This year Australia put the journalist Kate Webb on a stamp to commemorate the country’s Veterans Day.

If you’re in the UK and fancy a signed copy, then London Forbidden Planet and Goldsboro books both have copies while stocks last! She has to use all her guile – and the guile of the women around her – to keep the kingdom safe, and her enemies close. This then, is the situation Penelope finds herself in, walking a tight-rope between bad options. With so many people hungering for her husband’s crown, she can’t say yes and she can’t say no to any single one of them, without guaranteeing that the islands will be plunged into bitter war. If she says no to a king of Pylos, he too will feel rejected and have no reason not to invade. If she says yes to a prince of Corinth, the kings of Athens will be slighted and have no reason not to invade. Suitors knock at Penelope’s door, promising to protect her from the growing violence on the seas, but even here, Penelope has a problem. In this chaotic void, pirates and raiders prey upon their weak brethren – and Ithaca looks weak. Many soldiers came back from Troy with empty hands and emptier bellies, and the tenuous peace of Agamemnon dies when his wife, Clytemnestra, kills him. However running the kingdom isn’t as simple as keeping trade flowing and grain in the granaries. As a result, the care of the kingdom is entirely in the hands of widows and unmarried daughters. When Odysseus bunked off to Troy, he took all the men of fighting age from the isles, leaving only children, old men and the women behind. Though the poets have you believe she spent twenty years moping around the palace grieving her missing husband, there’s still the fact that she’s got a kingdom to run, and damnit she’s gonna run it. Ithaca is book 1 of a trilogy telling the story of Penelope, wife of Odysseus. Welp, it’s here, it’s happened, Ithaca is published, hurrah! I’ve already blabbered a load about it, but here is the pitch:

Catherine webb ithaca