This book is a retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of the woman involved. I did really enjoy the style and format of the novel, with short chapters about different characters each taking their turn in the spotlight. I particularly liked that the author took time to create stories around women who were merely footnotes in the classical canon, these were often the most successful sections as you truly felt you were hearing something new and unexpected.

“There are so many ways of telling a war: the entire conflict can be encapsulated in just one incident. One man’s anger at the behaviour of another, say. A whole war - all ten years of it - might be distilled into that. But this is the women’s war just as much as it is the men’s, and the poet will looks upon their pain - the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men - and he will tell it, or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn. And for what reason? Too many men telling the stories of men to each other. Do they see themselves reflected in the glory of Achilles? Do their aging bodies feel strong when they describe his youth? Is the fat belly of a feasted poet reminiscent of the hard muscles of Hector? The idea is absurd. And yet, there must be some reason why they tell and retell tales of men.
If he complains to me again, I will ask him this: is Oenone less of a hero than Menelaus? He loses his wife so he stirs up an army to bring her back to him, costing countless lives and creating countless widows, orphans and slaves. Oenone loses her husband and she raises their son. Which of those is the more heroic act”.

I start my review with this quote, as I think it so beautifully illustrates the whole narrative of this wonderful book. This book is very much a retelling of the Trojan war, perfectly executed and cleverly written. Written from the perspectives of the women amongst all the chaos - the forgotten voices - and it brings to pass a very insightful narrative of women’s sacrifices, experiences and misfortunes during war.

This book covers a whole host of stories and experiences, from a whole host of women, from a whole host of cultural and domestic backgrounds. It is so cleverly intertwined to create a overall plot, weaving together these female narratives and seeing the ways in which their lives overlap or how one woman’s actions, may have unforeseen consequences for another woman down the line.

Not only is the narrative exquisite, but the character development is so fantastic. Some of these women feature for one chapter only, and yet you’re left feeling completely emotionally connected to them, and they leave a lasting impression on you. This is just magical. I also really love the fact that this is not a story of women being victims - this is truly a story of women’s abilities to be versatile, to survive, to conquer and to strive. These are not flawless characters, these are women who have made mistakes...women who have regrets...women who do things for their own selfish means. I think this is so valuable, as it adds to the sheer humanity of the story.

This book deserves to be read. It deserves all the recognition it is receiving, and more! It will stay with me for a long time, and it has taught me so much. It has taught me gratitude more than anything - to be thankful for what we have. I urge everyone to give this book a go, it is really well written & full of personality. It is not a dry retelling of the Trojan war - it is packed full of emotion & vibrant. A must-read for fans of books such as Silence of the Girls, Circe and Song of Achilles. I wish I could give it more than five stars!

Oh dear :( Things started slowly, but I thought 'Give it time. It might improve'. It didn't.
I've reached the halfway mark and decided to quit, as it wasn't holding my attention and I'd starting skipping huge sections - specifically those about goddesses and Penelope's rambling letters to Odysseus.
The story is familiar to most, and I don't think this re-telling adds anything. I was most disappointed that a book claiming to tell things from the perspective of the women involved actually still revolved around the men.
Maybe readers who AREN'T familiar with the original will find it interesting. It's not for me
I shan't be reviewing this online as it doesn't really seem right

This wonderful book is a collection of the stories of the women and goddesses of the Trojan War. Each story stood alone, but together also wove a tapestry of the epic Greek myth. Natalie Haynes’ writing is clear and beautiful, not afraid to push the boundaries of emotion. Penelope’s humorously snarky letters to Odysseus sit alongside the tragic grief-filled story of Andromache and the rage-filled revenge of Clytemnestra.

I watched the author’s talk at the 2020 Hay Digital Festival and was pleased to discover that she is as engaging in person as she is in her book.

A thoroughly recommended read. I’m going to subscribe to the Radio 4 podcast now and keep an eye out for future books and events.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

What an absolute treasure of a book! This is a beautiful, majestic masterful telling of the Iliad from the perspective of the women. It's a must-read for fans of Madeline Miller or Stephen Fry's Greek series! I loved it!

With how many of stories of ancient Greece I've read in the last couple years you'd think I'd either know them all by now or be completely sick of them, or both...

Haynes successfully gives story time to more women who are usually relegated to the periphery of classic tales. And my fave parts of this one were the narratives of women I've seen the least of previously - Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, Laodamia, Hecabe and Polyxena. The stories of these women who maybe don't feature all that heavily in other texts and have therefore less filler to work with worked well here for me. Far more so than Penelope, who was absolutely my greatest regret of this book. If she is wastes in Homer she's perhaps even more wasted here. You can see Haynes trying not to give her depth and humour and also trying not to invent facts not in evidence in the other literature, but that balancing act just did not come together for me. The frequent (and lengthy) letters to Odysseus were a strange choice; she's writing him synopses of songs being sung about things happening to him? <i>Really?</i> Also, her propensity to blame Circe and Calypso for his delays and infidelities is just so yuck.

I think, weirdly, Helen might have been one of my fave characters here too - and another wasted opportunity. She was written as the version of smart and cold and calcuations that I would have liked to have seen from Penelope.

Nina MacLaughlin's <i>Wake, Siren. Ovid Resung.</i> is a lenghty set of the most brutal retellings of Greek myths from the perpspectives of women and it moved me from rage to tears to rage-tears a dozen times over. That is what I wanted here, but for me <i>A Thousand Ships</i> just didn't manage to capture that intensity. Perhaps it is the third person narration which by its style cannot as immediately 'give voice'? Or maybe it is the sassy interjections by Calliope, which - for me - just further distanced me from the perspectives of the female story subjects? "She isn't a footnote, she's a person", Calliope tells the unnamed poet - and if you have to say it, then maybe you haven't sufficiently shown it... I'm not sure.

In short, this is a good book, just not my favorite in a pretty well stocked genre.


My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the arc to review.

This a great retelling of mythological characters; mere mortals such as Helen of Troy, Achilles and also the Greek gods Hera, Zeus and co. Haynes also gives you a unique take on the great Trojan War and it’s aftermath, all from the perspectives of the women affected by it. And there are quite a few. I really like Haynes writing in this book; it’s full of wit and humour - my particular favourite are Penelope’s letters to her husband Odysseus. But there’s also lots of heartache in this; how the victors in battle are quick to abuse the spoils of war and how mortals are so ready to sacrifice their loved ones in devotion of their god. If you like mythology and fantasy, this one is for you! The female take is an added bonus!

Wow! A fabulous re-telling of the Trojan war from an all female perspective. The tales and fates of the wives, mothers, daughters & sisters of the key male roles all unfold through a series of narrative styles. The stories of these brave women are displayed equal to the braveness of the warriors themselves.
A love or even knowledge of Greek Mythology is not essential to enjoy this wonderful book but if you are a ‘fan’ there is still much to be gained from reading.
Huge thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the opportunity to read this amazing novel.

"A thousand ships, all sailing across the perilous oceans in hope of finding one man's wife. It remains, I'm sure you agree, an astonishing state of affairs".

I'm working my way through the @womensprize short list and was very much looking forward to this one, I love fiction based on classical mythology!

This is the story of the Trojan War, told from the perspective of the women involved. Some of the women are well known to us from other tales, others less so but as their stories intertwine and we move between different parts of the war, their stories of strength, loss, tragedy and resilience really come to life.

I loved the writing style, it made it feel like you could strip away the mythology element and at the heart have a group of women surviving and thriving in life in different ways.

Overall a great read, I'd recommend to anyone looking for escapism and you don't need to know anything about mythology to thoroughly enjoy it. The author does a superb job of giving you all the detail and context you need.

Thank you to @netgalley and @panmacmillan for the opportunity to review. Out now!

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This is a really hard book to review because A THOUSAND SHIPS made me angry, in a way I think it was supposed to. I'm not angry at the book itself (which was wonderful), but at the truths it brings up about the world - and a good book is one that evokes such strong emotions.

I've read many books about the Trojan war over the years - from the Iliad to THE SONG OF ACHILLES to THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS to Adèle Geras' TROY and beyond. By now, I'd have thought I'd be immune to the surge of anger at the awful, horrible, callous, petulant men who are considered heroes and live on in everlasting fame. But no.

I struggled to articulate to friends (as a way of getting my thoughts to this) the wash of anger at what we as a society consider is worthy of regard, and why we spend so much time telling their stories, while others (the women) are shoved to single lines in maybe one recounting. It's why I find books like this so cathartic.

So how does A THOUSAND SHIPS evoke such a powerful, emotional response from me?

Instead of telling one story - Briseis, that most people know - A THOUSAND SHIPS tells two dozen stories, all the women who history forgot or neglected. Briseis and Helen are there, but they are only two of the women brought up. Both the women of Troy and the wives of the Greek kings get to tell their story - their loss, despair, and also their lives after the war is over.

Hecabe seeking revenge for the one son she can avenge. Laodamia grief stricken when her husband goes to fight with the Greeks. Oenone, Paris' first wife, abandoned for Helen. Penelope weary and frustrated at her husband's continued absence after the end of the war. Calliope, the muse being asked for stories of the war by a man, and trying to make him understand the lives of the women torn apart by these "heroes".

As there so many stories (far more than mentioned above), there's a vast range of women depicted, covering so many emotions and coping mechanisms. It's not one story, but a collection. Some women only appear in one story, others weave between. Most as third person, but Calliope speaks in first person and Penelope writes letters. I loved the variety of story telling methods used, and the dexterity with which the prose was wielded.

The more I reflect on this book and try to corral my thoughts into order, the more my admiration for this book grows and how much of an impact it's had on me. I'm not struggling to write this book because I had no thoughts, but because I had so many. I think this may be one of my favourite books this year!

A thousand ships set sail for Troy to return one woman. Haynes's masterpiece is the story of the woman affected by the ensuing war. From Hecabe in ruined Troy, Penelope waiting for her husband in Ithaca, and the goddesses on Olympus, squabbling for dominance, A Thousand Ship explores the lives and tragedies of every woman except the one those ships were launched for.

Their narratives are woven together with expert care and knowledge, with every new voice bringing a unique and fresh viewpoint. Haynes's masterpiece unravels in all directions, flitting between past and present in the manner of one of Cassandra's prophecies (and it's always nice to see my favourite classical figure getting such sensitive treatment in a story). Of all the viewpoints, Penelope was my favourite. Her letters to Odysseus were full of snark and wit, perfectly pinpointing the flaws of the Odyssey's hero.

A Thousand Ships is beautifully written and full of emotion. It contains brilliant explorations of war, grief, and life after the death of a loved one. The final chapters brought me to tears, others made for uncomfortable reading, but all subjects were sensitively handled.

This novel drew me back into narratives I love, providing depth and voice to figures often overlooked. It's been a while since I've read the myths and narratives this story is inspired by. A Thousand Ships felt like returning to a much loved world, with the focus shifted to the characters I'm most interested in hearing about. It is accessible to readers who don't have any prior knowledge of these stories, but equally enjoyable for those who do.

A Thousand Ships is a view of war beyond the battlefield. Sometimes, being a hero is about more than swords and arrows, it is picking up the pieces of a ruined life and moving forwards, it's having the strength to keep going when everything feels lost, or remaining strong and composed in the face of anguish. There is no 'right' way to be a hero, just as there is no 'right' way to retell Classical literature.

Writers like Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller are rewriting classics with women in the foreground, and I love it. They are inspiring a new generation of women to enjoy classical literature, and I can't wait to see what they write next - and the new writers their stories inspire.

An excellent interpretation of the fall of Troy from the perspective of those those who are often overlooked, the women. An insightful and engaging look at how the other sex cope with war and the fallout. As female sacrifice and heroism can be marginalised, it was refreshing to read a book that celebrates their strengths and renders their voices vivid rather than pushing them to the sidelines.

A wonderful retelling of the voices of all the women of the Trojan war. This book gives them somewhere to speak up where they didn't have the chance in classical literature.

Haynes writing of many of the classical figures, especially that of the Trojan woman, and a few like Chyseis and Briseis provide us with the opportunity to hear their stories and struggles of what happened after the Trojan war.

The men in the countless classical stories may be deemed heroes but Haynes turns that thought around in this book, finally letting those who were silenced in the classic literature to speak.

I was thrilled to receive this arc and I would just like to say a huge thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for this chance in exchange for my honest review.

As a classics student and overall lover of greek mythology, I generally enjoyed reading all the tales of the women that Haynes wrote about. The only one that bothers me slightly was Penelope who through letters we see her recalling Odysseus' journey home through her information from the bard. Although I enjoyed how in these letters she gave Odysseus a piece of her mind, the general recount of the story had me skimming over the sections from seeing that it was mostly an overview of Odysseus' plight.

If had never read any other feminist retellings of Greek mythology I would probably love this. I suppose it's not fair to judge it this way but I don't read in a vacuum so I can't judge in one either! The story is very similar to The Silence of the Girls (obviously, as they both flesh out the female characters of The Iliad), which I already read and adored, whilst also keeping the detached, episodic style of actual mythology which Circe did too, and it once again prevented me from either becoming lost in the story or having any real feelings about it.


Objectively I know it takes real skill to capture that authentic mythical style, but it's never worked for me. It always feels like the story is all surface and no substance to really get your teeth into. I did like this don't get me wrong, I just didn't LOVE it like I expected to.

The retelling of famous Greek myths and stories has really boomed these last couple of years, specially retellings from female points of view. "The Penelopiad", "The Song of Achilles" and "House of Names" each had something new, whether the book as a whole worked or not, and just last year "The Silence of the Girls" and "Circe" set a pretty high bar.

I'm not picky, I'm open to reading these stories from any angle, it doesn't matter what story they tell. I don't care if it stays true to the original myth or not. I just want to read a good story. "The Silence of the Girls" last year was a great example of what can be done when you take a story and change the point of view completely. Supposedly, "A Thousand Ships" set out to do just that. And yet, it did nothing.

The book lacked focus. It wanted to tell every story, and so it told no one's story. It didn't know what language it wanted to use, so the characters would shrug and roll their eyes and talk in a very casual, modern-feeling way; but then the author would add a few verbs like "essay" and "suffice" to try to make it sound formal and old. It sounded confused.

For a supposed feminist take on the Troyan War, virtually all of the women mentioned seem terrible, but then again, the characters are absolutely shallow, there's no depth to them or their stories. Even the titles of the chapters were wrong: the chapters called "The Trojan Women" are about Hecabe from the point of view of Hecabe; the chapter called "Hecabe" is about Cassandra.

Penelope doesn't talk of herself, her life or give a different take on the Odyssey; on the contrary, she simply tells the exact same story the exact same way, which doesn't even add anything to the rest of the story the book is struggling to tell. She's a watered down version of the Penelope in Atwood's "The Penelopiad", which isn't a great book but it is at least incredibly original and gives Penelope a strong, powerful voice.

By the way Calliope talks to Homer, or rather, the author talks to the reader, they seem to think this book is unafraid to speak the awful truths of war, but it is quite the opposite. It says it tells the story of all kinds of women, when it focuses only on goddesses and queens whining because they might not be the prettiest or they might have to clean their own clothes now their kingdom has fallen. Is that truly the awful side of the war? A former princess wearing rags? Are three goddesses getting naked in front of a young man really the powerful feminist take that the world had never read and needed to?

The only chapters I read without cringing were those of Andromache and Oenone, but I wouldn't say they were particularly good either. In the end, I can't see myself reading anything else from this author.

I was thrilled to be sent a copy of this book and I was not let down. Haynes has such an effortless writing style and allows the readers to really feel like they are their in Ancient Greece. One of the best retellings I’ve read

This book was a lovely and insightful read. As someone who has very limited knowledge of the battle of Troy and therefore an extremely limited knowledge of the women who were mentioned, I found this book to be really educational. I loved hearing about the Goddess and how the war came into fruition, I loved finding out about the Amazonian women, hearing what happened to the daughters of Hecabe and also Clytemnestra - I thought she was brilliant and well written! The parts that I couldn't stand were Penelope's parts, her parts were told in the form of a letter to Odysseus and I found them jarring and quite whiny for the most part. I really couldn't stand her part. Aside from that this is a well researched and beautifully curated book of the women of Troy and I really enjoyed it.

The retelling of the famous Trojan war from an all-female perspective.

“There are so many ways of telling a war: the entire conflict can be encapsulated in just one incident. One man’s anger at the behaviour of another, say.”

In the middle of the night, Troy is woken - in flames. Ten seemingly ending years of brutal conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over, and the Greeks are victorious.

The devastating consequences of the fall of Troy stretch from Mount Ida to Mount Olympus, from the citadel of Troy to the distant Greek islands, and across oceans and sky between.

What I loved about 𝘼 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 was that it retold mythological classics that I learnt in school in such a compelling and unique way! Perhaps if you weren’t familiar with these fables and some of the characters, you would easily get confused. There is a character list at the beginning of the novel but as I read it on a kindle, I found it hard to flick back to (but only a minor problem!). I did find Penelope’s chapters boring but only because I’ve read The Odyssey - others would find this information relevant and essential.

This story is told from multiple perspectives, and tells of before, during and after the battle that raged for so long. The women who lost everything. The women that men and history neglected. And of course, the woman who started it all.

“ - all the Trojan women - should be memorialised as much as any other person. Their Greek counterparts too.”

“...this is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s...the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men...they have waited long enough for their turn.”

Thank you so much for letting me review this title. Unfortunately this just was not the book for me and I only made it through about the first 80 pages. I don’t write reviews for books I don’t finish as I feel this would be unfair.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
This book treads ground covered by Pat Barker in The Silence of the Girls in that it tells the story of the women involved in the Trojan War. It covers the whole of the war from fatal decisions which precipitated it to the terrible aftermath. The story is told from the perspective of many of the women involved from queen to slave. There are short passages where some women appear on only one occasion and other women appear throughout the book. Each character is well drawn and I found Haynes writing very readable with imaginative ways of expressing her ideas.
“The women were waiting on the shore, gazing blank-eyed at the sea. The tang of dried green seaweed and bent brown reed stalks fought against the stench of smoke which filled their clothes and matted hair. After two days, the Greeks were finally completing their systematic looting of the blackened city, and as the women waited to find out who they now belonged to, they huddled around their queen as though her last embers might keep them warm.”
It is a book which manages to show the epic sweep of the war but also the personal tragedies of the women involved. It is a powerful feminist book but the characters are complex and not mere vehicles to carry the themes of the story. Many thanks to Net Galley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.