The two Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have long been considered masterpieces, and their influence on subsequent Greek and Western literature has been immense. An international team of experts discusses the poems, their background and composition, and subsequent reception to the present day. Each chapter features contemporary critical insights and closes with a guide to further reading on the topic.

Steve, a nineteen-year-old English boy, lives and works in one of the small Tuscan villages that surround Florence. He is a lost soul, haunted by the memory of his beloved Katherine, whom he has left behind in England. He lives in a cluttered single room high up in Fausto Pacelli's three-storey house; the exorbitant rent as always in arrears. Steve works for Tino Fabiano, owner of an ice cream shop. His handsome good looks are good for business, women of all ages seem attracted to the boy. Steve is befriended by Luca, who runs his uncle's cafe, and is responsible for most of the food Steve...