When twenty-one-year-old Herculine Danton discovers twelve mysterious poems hidden in one of her father’s books, many years after he has died, she undertakes a personal journey/mythic quest to understand the poems' multilayered meanings. The twelve poems contain a coded narrative that retell the stories of twelve classical Greek heroines, revealing clues to her father’s past, her grandmother’s involvement in the French Resistance, and a series of historical intrigues. 

As Herculine attempts to solve the puzzle of the poems before her academic rival does, her life and her passionate relationships with women and men begin to mirror their narratives, while uncovering family secrets and shedding light on her own identity.

Three decades of desire and its poetic expressions...a sensuous life journey through love and longing. 

Two decades of essays reflecting on the mythic structures of life: formed in childhood and explored throughout adulthood. 

During an off-Broadway production of Medea, the ancient Greek tragedy begins to blend into the lives of the four individuals most deeply involved in the show: the Director, the Diva, the Ingenue, and the Leading Man, along with the influences of five legendary figures from history whose desires also permeate the play.  All these lives intertwine in a passionate, dramatic, and entertaining view of theater life in New York City in the 1990s.