After reading a copy of Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth, I have been hooked on historical fiction ever since. But each book I've read since has always been dominated by a male antagonist, a male author, with only a footnote mention of any female characters. All the books have a female love interest, a few lines of the horrors the women of any losing battle faced but none reflected on what happened to these women until now. Pat Barker has given a voice to all the women, both fictional and real, that had to endure the terror's that were reaped upon them by the emerging victors.

We once more follow Briseis narration, now after the fall of Troy, pregnant with Achilles’ child, married to Alcimus and comforter to all the other captive women. She details the grief that she herself feels, after the loses she suffered. The mixed feelings of a carrying a child that she didn't want, but feeling it grow inside her and the maternal inclinations it brings. Summed up by Andromache, " How are we supposed to love their children."

We hear the nightmares of the other women in the Greek camp, from forced marriage, playthings to the powerful, slaves with no free will and a life of perpetual servitude. But the main theme of the book is one of survival. Surviving against the odds, doing what needs to be done, regardless of what it entails. What these women endure in order to just survive the day, proves beyond doubt the lengths mankind and womankind will do for the next breath, that the one they take will not to be their last.

This book gives you an idea of what every woman over the centuries has had to endure after the last defending soldier fell to endure and that in itself makes the story compelling, enlightening and insightful. The perspective may have changed, but this a must read for all fans of historical fiction and lovers of Troy.
I for one cannot wait to see what lies in store for 'The Women of Troy' as they embark on the journey back to Greece.

VERDICT: 4****/5. Pat Barker brings a refreshing change of insight to a male dominated genre, author and character alike. If you loved Stephen Fry's Troy then this series of books are for you, which gives you a woman's perspective on all thing Trojan.

The Women of Troy picks up where The Silence of the Girls left off, and continues to follow the perspective of Briseis. The story is also told through the eyes of Calchas, a priest and prophet, and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.

Personally this book didn’t feel as impactful as the previous book and I personally found it losing its momentum at the 50% mark. That being said, the author continues to provide and interesting narrative that is sharp and lyrical. I always love to read classical retellings and this was a decent contribution.

Troy has been razed and all the Trojan men have been slaughtered. After ten long years, the Greeks are keen to return home. But fierce winds prevent all the ships from setting sail. Tensions rise within the camp as boredom sets in.

A sequel of sorts to The Silence of the Girls, Briseis, now wedded to Alcimedes, is the main narrator of events both within the wider camp and particularly in her interaction with the other Trojan women, now taken as slaves. There are also some chapters which focus on Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, and Calchas a seer, first of Troy but now of the Greek encampment.

The story does not reach the heady heights of the previous novel but provides a well written and sometimes intriguing account of the departure of the Greeks from Troy.

The use of the word 'retarded' several times in the story did grate and one wonders at the use of a word which is now generally regarded as offensive.

After a year of Covid this is one of the very few books that has grabbed my attention and held it from start to finish. That is entirely due to the quality of Pat Barker's writing, wonderfully clear and subtle it is deceptively simple. An absolute joy to read

Never over written but capable of getting you to look at something in an entirely different and innovative way. Without melodrama or fuss,

Briseis is a heroine who endures, watches, waits in a world turned upside down and inside out. Women go from queen to slave, from concubine to honoured wife. A world of depravity, superstition and absolute male warrior dominance.

It's about memory, trauma and survival. That makes it look amazingly depressive but at the same time there are hints of better times ahead.

Victories for the women are small and very human. Acts of kindness, loyalty and friendship. Being alive in this world if you are a woman and a prize is a real victory.

For me a very interesting male character in the novel was Calchas, also dispossessed, out of place, living by his wits and trapped by his role and past.

A wonderful novel and one that I will read again.

The Women of Troy picks up almost exactly from where The Silence of the Girls left off, following the story of Briseis as she navigates life among the Greeks following the fall of Troy. Personally, I didn't quite feel that The Women of Troy captured the brutality of the women's stories in the same way that TSOTG did. I think this mostly comes down to the fact that there were so many women featured in the story, and I would have preferred to get to know fewer characters on a deeper level.

That being said, Pat Barker proves once again to be excellent at bringing the Ancient Greeks and Trojan women to life and I really felt like I was there in the camp. Anyone who is a lover of mythological retellings will certainly enjoy this, and despite my mild criticism I would definitely be interested in reading more about what happens to the women once they return 'home' with the Greek men.

The hangover of an Ancient History degree is being attracted to any modern retelling of myth. Try as I might I cannot help but be drawn in by any whisper of classical reception. I read Silence of the Girls in 2019 and didn't realise going into this book that it serves essentially as a sequel to that story. Briseis is at the helm again guiding us through the aftermath of the Trojan War as the Greeks wait to return home. This time it is Pyrrhus, rather than Achilles, whose mind we get an extra insight to. I really enjoyed this characterisation because I don't remember ever coming across adaptations or retellings that have concentrated on the son of Achilles. By considering the question of what it is like to be the son of the great Achilles, Barker sets up a really interesting narrative. Overall I enjoyed The Women of Troy more than The Silence of the Girls. I found myself wrapped up in the story from the offset and raced through the first 50% of the book. I did think the momentum was lost towards the second half. I suspect that could be because I was craving a bit more of Pyrrhus' voice. The internal battle with himself that Barker presents was the most interesting aspect of the book to me. It feels slightly wrong to say that when female characters are so often overlooked in ancient myth, so perhaps I should have been more interested in the other female characters involved. Having said that, I loved the inclusion of characters like Amina and Helle. So often even in feminist retellings of myth it is the upper class women that are given centre stage so to hear the story of slaves was refreshing. Equally I always enjoy seeing the way in which different writers present the well worn characters of people like Helen, Hecuba and Adromachae. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who finds themselves drawn in by stories involving ancient myth. There is a reason these tales have stood the test of time and even now writers like Pat Barker manage to add another layer to the narrative.

In this recent revival of Greek epics I really enjoyed "The silence of the girls", but I must admit that I also read "A Thousands ships" by Natalie Haynes, whose protagonists are roughly the same as in this novel, so much so that I can't be sure which stories belong to one book and which to the other. I liked them both, but the stories all get mixed up in my memory now.

In questo recente revival dell'epica greca ho apprezzato molto "The silence of the girls", ma devo ammettere che ho letto anche "A Thousands ships" di Natalie Haynes, le cui protagonista sono grossomodo le stesse di questo romanzo, tant'é che non posso essere sicura di quali storia appartengono ad un libro e quali all'altro. Mi sono piaciuti entrambi, ma le storie ormai si confondono tutte nella mia memoria.

I RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY DIGITAL ADVANCED REVIEW COPY FROM THE PUBLISHER IN EXCHANGE FOR A HONEST REVIEW!

The Silence of the Girls was one of my outstanding reads of the last few years. It was one of those books that makes you look at the world in a different way, and shifting the viewpoint of the Iliad from the warriors to the women created a powerful impact with strong contemporary resonances. With this in mind, I was excited about reading the follow-up, 'The Women of Troy.'.

Once again, the main narrator is Briseis, now the wife of one of Achilles' deputies, and as such, in a position of relative security and influence among the women stuck in the Greek camp, waiting to board the ships to sail to their new destinies. The story is also told through the eyes of Calchas, priest and prophet, and Achilles's son, Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus has never met his father, and is constantly overshadowed by him. The book opens with him hidden inside the Trojan Horse, and follows him as he botches the killing of King Priam. His failure to honour Priam's body or grant him a proper burial is the action that drives the plot.

At first I felt that The Women of Troy didn't have quite the same impact as its predecessor, but this is more to do with the subject matter than the way the book is written. The Silence of the Girls is full of the bloodshed created by the wrath of Achilles, whereas this story is set in the aftermath of war. The shell-shocked survivors of the sack of Troy, the tedium of waiting for the wind to change, the barely supressed violence of the Greek men, and the vulneraility of the women of all ranks who are perpetually at the mercy of these men, whatever their level in society, ... all are powerfully and shockingly portrayed..

Each character is entirely believable, of their time, and yet timeless too. Even when you don't like the characters, you are given the space to empathise with their behaviour..

Pat Barker makes writing look quite effortless. This is a gripping read, and entirely satisfying.
I hope that she will write more about Briseis and the survivors of the Trojan war..

I thought The Women Of Troy was very good. It’s perhaps not quite as brilliant as its predecessor, The Silence Of The Girls, but Pat Barker has produced another superbly told, humane and completely real story here as she continues her retelling of the fall of Troy and its aftermath through the eyes of Briseis, once Achilles’ Prize Of Honour, now married to Achilles friend.

The events here are, of course, very well documented in the Iliad, the Aeneid and in countless retellings since. What makes this special for me is Barker’s remarkable ability to convey the human experience of her characters, most notably the Trojan women who are now enslaved by the Greeks. The Greeks themselves are stranded on the plain of Troy by a persistent hostile wind and the growing atmosphere of discontent, lawlessness and violence is beautifully evoked – partly in the behaviour of the men, but most powerfully in its effect on the women, who are never safe from male whim and violence. It’s a timely portrayal which has strong echoes today, but one which is never heavy-handed which makes its impact all the greater for me.

All of this is done in lovely, unflashy prose. It is writing which is extremely evocative without ever drawing attention to itself, so the real, day-to-day experience of these characters from a heroic tale is quite remarkably vivid. Briseis’s voice is especially good, with her intelligent observation of the monstrous inhumanity with which the women are treated, coupled with her fatalistic acceptance that she cannot resist it and her quiet, determined resilience. Once or twice there is a flash of genuine anger, for example when the Greek men are concerned because many women, including priestesses, were raped in temples and that the desecration of the temples has angered the gods. “B- that, I thought, what about the women?” is Briseis’s response and it hits you in the face. Her characters are excellently portrayed – especially the adolescent Pyrrhus, for me. There are also some genuinely moving moments, like the birth of a child to a slave and a long-delayed hero’s funeral.

Perhaps because the idea is now more familiar, this didn’t have quite the impact of The Silence Of The Girls for me, but it’s still an excellent, engrossing read with some very important content, expertly developed. Warmly recommended.

What I like about this is that Pat Barker keeps things quiet and resists the urge, so prevalent in classical retellings, of falling into melodrama. The whole book takes place in that liminal place and time when Troy has fallen but the winds prevent the Greek fleet from sailing home. The Trojan women are enslaved as concubines and are waiting to be shipped away from their homes, their fathers, husbands, brothers and male children all dead.

Briseis, now married, remains a first-person narrator, with continued PoVs from Calchas and now Pyrrhus, Achilles' son (also know as Neoptolemus in Athenian tragedy). The big stories are merely glanced at (view spoiler) with foreshadowings from Cassandra's prophecies (view spoiler).

Instead we have another non-Trojan Greek myth woven into this story (view spoiler).

The big points being made here are the horribly timely and relevant axiom that men are afraid of women laughing at them; women are afraid of men killing them - dramatised via the boy-man Pyrrhus trying desperately to live up to the fierce warrior reputation of his father, Achilles. The fragility and vulnerability of masculinity is articulated; the recourse to violence to prop up ego is shown without need for additional comment from Barker.

Once again, there are moments when the Trojan War becomes a polychromatic kaleidoscope which highlights moments from other wars: the reaction of the men dropping out of the wooden horse, for example, feels like that scene from a million films when the commandos are inserted successfully behind enemy lines.

I had a few quibbles about the choices the book makes in dealing with the source material: (view spoiler) But I love the irony of Odysseus being the most eager to set sail for home knowing, as we do, that it'll be ten years and many adventures before he gets back to Penelope.

Most of all, though, this is a book which is about female suffering and female endurance: raped and brutalised, with children and husbands killed sometimes before their eyes, enslaved and being sent away to Greece, these women are traumatised... but are also survivors.