Booker Award winner Pat Barker turns her attention to Homer's Iliad retold from the viewpoint of the captive Trojan women who have become the property of the Greeks, doing the hard work of the camp by day and servicing their captors by night.
Briseis, the former queen of Lyrnessus, is the narrator. In the Iliad, Briseis famously becomes the prize or trophy awarded to Achilles for his prowess in battle. Until she is snatched away by the spiteful King Agamemnon, and Achilles furiously declares he will fight no more for the Greeks. In the Iliad Briseis has no voice, no will of her own. In Barker's retelling, men may enforce that silence, but among themselves the women find ways to reclaim their sense of worth and self.
A wonderfully compelling tale.
Click HERE to read a featured interview with the author in Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read an article from the Washington Post.
Click HERE to read the review from the Guardian (UK).
Click HERE to read the review in Kirkus.
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