P. offers a further contribution to the study of nympholepsy after W.R. Connor's landmark article of 1988: ‘Seized by the Nymphs’. Nevertheless, here the term nympholepsy is not exclusively used in relation to the phenomena associated by the ancient sources with nympholepts (people who find themselves under the influence of nymphs), namely frenzy, heightened power of speech, superior understanding, etc. (e.g. Pl. Phaedr. 238Cf.). P.'s interpretation of nympholepsy encompasses a much wider range of experiences. P. examines several instances of encounters between mortal men and goddesses, not exclusively nymphs, that have different outcomes: abduction, erotic encounters, poetic inspiration, sorrows, institution of cults and more. According to P., these encounters between the divine and human realms share the fact of being commemorated in the shape of cult and poetry by the Greeks, as a means of self-understanding with respect to their past. The title of the book takes a cue from Wordsworth's poem ‘She was a Phantom of Delight’ that encapsulates P.'s interpretation of nympholepsy: the encounter between the poet and a fascinating female figure engenders in him the need to commemorate the event through poetry.

P. investigates ancient Greek sources from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, deploying a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account literary, epigraphic and iconographic evidence. Chapter 1 discusses the catalogue of goddesses and mortals at the end of Hesiod's Theogony (963–1022). P. argues that these lines are authentic, but does not take part in the scholarly debate on the much disputed originality of this section. Besides arguing that these lines are a way of giving men a part in the story of the origins of the world, she draws a parallel between the prologue of the poem, where Hesiod encounters the Muses, and the lines on Aphrodite's abduction of Phaethon, who consequently becomes the first attendant in the goddess's temple (989–91). She argues that the Theogony presents two versions of nympholepsy which respectively lead to a poetic act and a cultic institution: the beginning of the poem presents the aition of the poetry of Hesiod, while the end constitutes the aition of the first temple keeper.

In Chapter 2 P. offers an engaging summary of the archaeological evidence related to three sanctuaries built following nympholeptic experiences: at Vari in Attica, at Pharsalos in Thessaly and at Kafizin in Cyprus. These present further evidence of the continuity between poetry and cult engendered by nympholepsy. P. explains how, on the one hand, inscriptions and votive objects display a poetic creativity that should be considered as a product of the inspiration of the nymphs investing the nympholepts; and how, on the other, the nympholepts' personal experiences assume importance for the community to such a degree that the shrines they built become places of pilgrimage, and nympholepts themselves become figures of cult.

Chapter 3 presents further examples of how patterns of interaction between goddesses and mortals function as a means of building connections between the human and divine realms. The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite is taken as an example of how local cults, relating to nympholeptic experience, find a mirror image in poetic narratives of goddesses falling in love with mortals. The intercourse between Aphrodite and Anchises triggers emotions in the man similar to those experienced by the nympholepts; and his actions appear as a parallel with those of the nympholepts in historical sources. But here the nympholeptic experience assumes a pan-Hellenic character, shifting away from the local perspective of cult.

Chapter 4 treats the Odyssey and analyses Odysseus' encounters with goddesses (Calypso, Circe, Leucothea and Athena) that either follow or contrast with what are considered by P. to be nympholeptic patterns. Differently from what is shown in the previous chapter, these episodes endorse the ‘increasing separation between gods and men as a consequence of Odysseus' choice of mortality’ (p. 122). Odysseus must reject Calypso in order to be able to return home, but once home, in the presence of Athena, he will make offers in the sanctuary of the nymphs. Ritual reconciles divine and human spheres.

In Chapter 5, P. considers erotic relationships between goddesses and men in the civic context of Classical Athens. P. draws special attention to iconographic material about Eos and her lovers (Tithonus and Cephalus) articulated in scenes of pursuit, contact and abduction. She argues that the relationship of Eos with mortals, which develops in terms of both maternal and erotic love, constitutes a further example of nympholepsy as a moment of connection between gods and mortals. In particular, the encounter with Cephalus is memorialised through his transformation into a cultic hero and the establishment of civic institutions connected to him.

In Chapter 6, P. argues that in the Hellenistic period poets emphasised the dangerous consequences of a nympholeptic encounter for the mortal involved, such as disappearance and death. Loss and remembrance become overarching themes: Apollonius of Rhodes describes the sorrow following the disappearance of Hylas and the institution of a cult related to it (Argonautica 1.1228–39); Theocritus makes Daphnis' fate the subject of some of his bucolic Idylls and the premise of the creation of this new poetic genre. Once again both poetry and cult appear to be engendered by nympholeptic experiences.

P. tackles an extremely stimulating topic, the relationship between goddesses and mortals. As she sets herself the ambitious target of encompassing different types of evidence from the Archaic age to the Hellenistic period, it is understandable that the study does not present itself as exhaustive. The strength of the book lies in its capacity to stimulate the reader to consider parallels or contrasting examples, which prove necessary to further the study of this subject. Nevertheless, sometimes the selection of the material appears problematic. While the analysis encompasses goddesses such as Athena, Aphrodite and Eos who are evidently not nymphs, P. chooses to give a very limited space to the extant Greek sources in which a clear reference to nympholepsy is made. P. claims that, apart from a few passages from the Classical period, the word nympholeptos appears exclusively in lexicons or inscriptions (pp. 40 and 41 n. 10). However, the occurrences are more numerous than this, and there are two that would have been particularly worth mentioning: the first in Philostratus in reference to Apollonius of Tyana (V.A. 2.37.31) and the second in Aelius Aristides with reference to himself (Or. 21.15). Both instances connect ‘being seized by the nymphs’ with a supernatural heightening of understanding and verbal skills, an overarching aspect of nympholepsy as shown by Connor. If, in Chapter 6, P. is right in emphasising a shift from mental to physical rapture in the poetry of the Hellenistic period (Hylas, Bromos, Daphnis), nevertheless these two texts indicate that the previous interpretation of the phenomenon persists even after the time frame considered by P., and therefore in the Hellenistic period. This is also shown by historical and archaeological evidence that is not taken into consideration (e.g. the cave of Onesagoras and the cave of the Sphragitic nymphs of Cithaeron were still frequented in the post-Classical period). On the other hand, a look at non-literary sources on nympholepsy could have strengthened P.'s argument about the relationship between nymphs and disappearance and death, as some Hellenistic funerary epitaphs describe the deceased as someone abducted by the nymphs, especially in relation to children. If one moves from looking at each single chapter to considering the overall idea of writing a book about goddesses' love for mortals, it could have been useful to enhance differences from, and analogies with, divine male love for women (which may bring with it prophetic empowering, as in the case of Cassandra).