Penelope haing been left alone with a kingdom to run, has to deal with the suitors who sit in her hall and eat her food. In this darkly humorous take on Penelope's story, Atwood addresses Penelope's challenges while Oddyseus works his way home from the arms of beautiful goddesses and escapes the revenges of Poseidon. She is irked by the uproar her dramatic cousin Helen has put in place. When her husband returns, he and their son hang twelve of her hand maids the hanging of the maids hs always been a puzzling part of the legend. They really had no choice in their acceptance of sexual approaches. They and Penelope present their case from Hades. It's a worthwhile re reading of the story.