Speaking from the afterlife, Penelope tells her own version of the story—her childhood, her marriage to Odysseus, the twenty years she spends waiting for his return, and the pressures of ruling Ithaca while surrounded by persistent suitors. But Atwood also gives a voice to the twelve maids who were executed when Odysseus returned, allowing them to question the heroic version of events preserved in myth.

Blending myth, dark humour, irony, tragedy, and feminist reinterpretation, the novel explores how stories are shaped by those who get to tell them. It asks what really happened behind the celebrated adventures of Odysseus—and what Penelope and her maids endured while the hero was away.