In the heat of Barcelona beats the heart of a new, young underclass. Once the bright future of Venezuela, it disappeared after the country's surreal collapse. From savagery these friends emerge and take flight. Thrumming with life, there before the world but under its radar, they have escaped hunger and worse in Caracas. Now they pedal the streets as fast-food delivery "riders", prostitutes and dealers, scratching their living at speed through the streets of a new city whose punishing hills and dark alleys they navigate at risk, visible in fleeting moments at a doorstep, on a corner, or weaving through rush-hour traffic. Savages to some they become hypnotic fireflies here, discovering identity, surviving insult, questioning gender, finding love, trying to forget, or is it to remember, but alive and supporting each other through stories of fear, horror, laughter and hope. María Eugenia pedals 84 frenetic hours a week, her body broken and bleeding, rapid orders pushing through to her phone that rings non-stop. She has kept in touch with Cheo who looks forward to the arrival of his girlfriend from Venezuela but has yet to tell her he is married to Andrés. Nataly has turned to prostitution only to fall in love with Sasha, her mysterious Russian client, while El Loco tries to establish himself as a drug dealer in Madrid on the back of a clouded past in Caracas where From Savagery opens in a funeral home and at the very moment Angélica realises she can't afford her mother's burial. This generation comes alive through its language; it is as distinct as the friendship shared: crackling, proud, and without apology, a gust of fresh air bringing with it the spirit of a new life.

Four stories. Four couples. Three years of real life after graduation… A wedding. A proposal. An elopement. And a surprise pregnancy. Can you guess which couple is which? Come for the drama, stay for the laughs! Catch up with your favorite Off-Campus characters as they navigate the changes that come with growing up and discover that big decisions can have big consequences…and big rewards.

Now that all the others have run out of air, it's my turn to do a little story-making. In Homer's account in The Odyssey, Penelope—wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy—is portrayed as the quintessential faithful wife, her story a salutary lesson through the ages. Left alone for twenty years when Odysseus goes off to fight in the Trojan War after the abduction of Helen, Penelope manages, in the face of scandalous rumors, to maintain the kingdom of Ithaca, bring up her wayward son, and keep over a hundred suitors at bay, simultaneously. When Odysseus finally comes home after enduring hardships, overcoming monsters, and sleeping with goddesses, he kills her suitors and—curiously—twelve of her maids. In a splendid contemporary twist to the ancient story, Margaret Atwood has chosen to give the telling of it to Penelope and to her twelve hanged maids, asking: "What led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?" In Atwood's dazzling, playful retelling, the story becomes as wise and compassionate as it is haunting, and as wildly entertaining as it is disturbing. With wit and verve, drawing on the story-telling and poetic talent for which she herself is renowned, she gives Penelope new life and reality—and sets out to provide an answer to an ancient mystery.

An enchanting short story from Madeline Miller that boldly reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion. In ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece — the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen — the gift of life. Now his wife, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own and yearns for independence. In a desperate bid by her obsessive husband to keep her under control, Galatea is locked away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. But with a daughter to rescue, she is determined to break free, whatever the cost...

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or with the mortals she has come to love.