The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker.

Published in hardcover 26th August 2021 by Hamish Hamilton.

Audio book narrated by Kristin Atherton.

From the cover of the book:

Troy has fallen and the Greek victors are primed to return home, loaded with spoils. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails.

But the wind does not come. The gods are offended - the body of Priam lies desecrated, unburied - and so the victors remain in uneasy limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed. The coalition that held them together begins to fray, as old feuds resurface and new suspicions fester.

Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, erstwhile queen Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can - with young, rebellious Amina, with defiant, aged Hecuba, with Calchus, the disgraced priest - and she begins to see the path to revenge...

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The Women of Troy picks up where the story of Pat Barker's excellent The Silence of the Girls left off, beginning with the fall of Troy. The story is mostly told through the voice of Briseis, as in the first book. Now married to Myrmidon warrior Alcimus, at Achilles' behest, and carrying Achilles' child. Briseis is no longer a slave, and she is forced to confront where her loyalties lie when the women captured at the fall of Troy are brought to live in the camp as prizes of war - a position that was very recently her own.

As in The Silence of the Girls, there is a male narrative too. Achilles' son Pyrrhus tells us of his inner turmoil as he is expected to step into the sandals of the heroic father he never met. It is a role he is ill suited to, and he often resorts to ill-judged acts of violence - including killing Trojan King, Priam, and desecrating his body. The Greeks are trapped on the shores of Troy, unable to leave. Many believe the Gods are angered by events surrounding the fall of the city, and as frustration rises, old feuds resurface in an army no longer held together by a single purpose. The atmosphere is ripe for revenge, and not just among the Greeks. 

Barker does a splendid job of taking you into the hearts and minds of the women who have been dragged from Troy to become slaves - much as she did in the first book through the eyes of Briseis. Some are lowly, like the defiant Amina, but there are also many famous females from legend among them - wife of Priam, Hecuba; Hector's wife, Andromache; Priam's doomed daughter Cassandra; and of course, Helen, now returned to her vengeful husband Menelaus. It is their stories that hold you fast this this novel: their anxieties, their friendships, their sorrow, and their conflict, as they comes to terms with what has happened over the last ten years. 

Much of this story is heart-breaking and anger-inducing, as expected, but it sheds fascinating light on what followed the fall of Troy, filling out the myth with very real concerns of those at the mercy of a Greek army falling apart at the seams. What really strikes me about it is the courage, camaraderie, and determined resistance of the women in this novel, which drives the story much more than the acts of Greek warriors that dominate the traditional tales. They come across as so real, which makes this book such an accessible way to get to know the Greek myths, with added layers of insight from the female gaze. 

Even better that The Silence of the Girls, this is a must read if you are enjoying the wonderful explosion of books finally giving voice to the women from Greek myth. A mention here of the glorious audio book which is narrated once again by Kristin Atherton, as for The Silence of the Girls. Atherton brings these characters to life, and listening to her telling this tale was just like meeting an old friend once again in Briseis. Superb!

The Women of Troy is available to buy now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio formats.

About the author:

Pat Barker, CBE, FRSL was born in Thornaby-on-Tees in 1943. She was educated at the London School of Economics and has been a teacher of history and politics.

Her books include the highly acclaimed Regeneration trilogy, Regeneration; The Eye in the Door, winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize; and The Ghost Road, winner of the Booker Prize; as well as several other novels. She's married and lives in Durham, England