Luna McNamara Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Luna McNamara
Luna McNamara is a social worker during the day, and at night she writes about forgotten gods and historical women.

She holds a master’s degree from Harvard University studying gender and women in world religions; she’s also studied ancient Greek language and philosophy.

Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings” was the very first book that she remembers reading. It is a classic story of ducks in Boston and is a charming picture book.

The book that made her want to become a writer was possibly “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London. She was so intrigued by London’s varied and rich life shone through in his work, and how he wrote from perspectives that were very different than the one he inhabited.

Luna could not stop thinking about Eros and Psyche. She loved the myth when she first heard it when she was just a child, however when she read the source text many years later, what she saw there was incredibly different than what she had been told. There are parts of the myth that are confusing or not explained precisely (like the curse’s exact nature), and there are some other parts which do not land well with modern audiences, like a phrase about “tending to the bloodied corpse of the new bride’s virginity” after Psyche’s wedding night.

Luna wanted to interpret this myth as a love story the way that she would like to see it, between two individuals that change because of the love that they have for one another, however not necessarily one another. Luna also wanted to take a romp through the ages of Greek mythology, and see what these varied myths had to say to each other.

Luna started her research for “Psyche and Eros” by thoroughly reading through the source text for the Psyche and Eros myth, called “The Golden Ass” by Lucius Apuleius. Then she moved on to other interpretations of the myth, like CS Lewis’ “Till We Have Faces”. Luna was curious about how other people had interpreted this myth, which in its original form feels allegorical and ambiguous, since you get the sense that both Eros and Psyche are not just characters or gods, but actually stand-ins for some sort of universal impulses or forces.

She read a bunch of Anne Carson, who’s done some excellent scholarship on Eros, and even had the privilege to read some of Dr. Regine May’s early work, somebody that specializes in Apuleius. Luna also read more primary sources from Roman and Greek literature than she is easily able to name.

Luna also took a deep dive into art history. Just a small fraction of the texts from antiquity have survived into the modern day, and we should also keep in mind that most people from the ancient world couldn’t read these texts. Instead of focusing exclusively on the texts which were likely the provenance of elite men, Luna also took a look at the art from Roman and Greek worlds which depicts Psyche and Eros, both together and apart. Here was her genesis of the butterfly motif in her novel. Since in Roman art, Psyche’s often depicted with butterfly wings.

Luna loved writing Atalantia, who is Psyche’s mentor. Atalantia does not show up in the original myth, however she had such a strong vision of her riding through the gates to Tiryns which she simply had to include her. While she was struggling to write her early drafts of this story, it was the image of Atalantia which helped her tie everything together.

The very first encounter between Eros and Psyche in the darkened room was also a pleasure for Luna to write. She had been spirited away to his home, he creeps up on her in the dark, and she reacts predictably.

Luna had written the first draft while trapped in her single bedroom apartment during the pandemic. She’d been going through a number of difficulties at that time, and working on this novel was a wonderful escape.

She showed this first draft to some of her friends that were supportive and offered some critical insights, and after a bit of editing, she began sending it off to agents. She got a full request, yet this agent wound up giving her a revise and resubmit. So Luna rewrote the POV and wound up getting signed by a different agent, who’s just wonderful. It took her about a full year, all told, to find an agent, and she racked up a ton of rejections by the end of it all.

“Psyche and Eros” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2023. An exciting and stunning feminist retelling of one of the greatest love stories in all of Greek mythology.

Born into an era of heroes, this prophecy claims that Princess of Mycenae, Psyche, is going to defeat a monster that is feared even by the gods themselves. Rebelling against some of society’s traditions, she spends her youth mastering bow and blade, preparing to fulfill her destiny.

However she quickly gets caught up in powers beyond her control, once the jealous Aphrodite sends Eros, the God of Desire, to deliver this fatal love curse. The very last thing that Eros wants is to get involved in the chaos of the mortal world, however when he gets pricked by the arrow that had been intended for Psyche, he’s doomed to love a woman that will be torn from him the instant their eyes meet.

Thrown together by fate, the headstrong Psyche and world-weary Eros are going to face challenges much greater than either one of them could have imagined. And while the Trojan War starts and all of the heavens attempt to keep them both apart, are they going to find their way back to one another before it’s too late?

Luna delivers a breathtaking, swoonworthy adventure. This refigures a classic tale of revelation and disguise and of improbable passion being tested by fate for our times. This novel is a pure delight, having been spun in such a lyrical and evocative way. You just fall right into the pages of this story and get taken along for an imaginative and fun ride.