Over the following weeks and months, the two become close and fall in love. He thanks Ariadne for caring for his home. The only way for Crete to make peace with Athens is to marry her to Theseus.Īriadne is about to let herself die of starvation on Naxos, when the god Dionysus arrives.

Phaedra soon learns that Theseus escaped and that Ariadne is dead. Theseus has given her the wrong beach on purpose, thus abandoning her in Crete. Meanwhile, Phaedra waits and waits for her sister and the prince to appear on the beach. After they spend the night together, Ariadne wakes up horrified to discover Theseus has abandoned her. The new lovers sail for the nearby island of Naxos. He agrees to give Ariadne the secret so she can help Theseus defeat the Minotaur and escape Crete.Īlthough Theseus promises to take Phaedra with him and Ariadne back to Athens, he and Ariadne leave Crete without her. As the creator of the Minotaur's imprisoning labyrinth, Daedalus is the only one who knows how to escape the maze. She soon discovers that the man is Theseus, prince of Athens, and becomes desperate to save him.Īriadne confers with the palace craftsman, Daedalus. When Ariadne sees a handsome man amongst the tributes, she is convinced she is in love. The Athenian youths are sacrificed to the sisters' half bull, half human brother, the Minotaur, each year. Shortly thereafter, King Minos's annual supply of Athenian tributes arrives on the island. Disgusted by the man, Ariadne begs her mother, Pasiphae, and her father to release her from the union. When Ariadne turns 18, her father, King Minos of Crete, announces his plans to marry her off to Cinyras of Cyprus. Throughout their childhoods, Ariadne and Phaedra, the princesses of Crete, have known that they have little autonomy over their own lives. The following summary employs the present tense and adheres to a linear plot structure. The novel is written in both the past and present tenses. Jennifer Saint's novel Ariadne is written from the first person points of view of the main characters, Ariadne and Phaedra. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Saint, Jennifer.

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint