My teenage daughter is a dedicated and obsessed student of mythology, and has loved reading Pat Barker's retellings, so much so that she has influenced one of my book clubs to start reading them. She prizes them above Homer's Odyssey or The Iliad, and feels that Pat Barker is more accomplished than other, modern, writers such as Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes. My daughter found this to be as charismatic, thrilling and profound as the first two but with a heightened feeling of drama and peril.
Clytemnestra's and Cassandra's despair are almost tangible in this retelling and my daughter was lost in Mycenae - she didn't even remember to eat whilst reading this.
Stunning in every regard.

The Voyage Home is the third (& final?) book in Pat Barker’s retelling of the famous story of Troy, but told from different perspectives. This book is set immediately after the fall of Troy & imagines what happens next. If you’re a fan of Agamemnon (shudder) or Clytemnestra (hurray!) then you already know their fates, but this novel looks at the wider picture, with particular focus on Ritsa, who was a character in the previous novel The Women of Troy., and Cassandra, cursed with the gift of prophecy. Beautifully written, with spots of much needed humour here & there. I loved it. Many thanks to NetGalley for an early read.

I have been waiting for this book for so long and it did not disappoint. This trilogy is absolute perfection. When yet another book reimagining the classics rolls out, my heart drops into my boots, but this, for me is the OG. Such spare, beautiful writing that doesn't flinch from the horror of what she depicts. The voyage from Troy to Mycanae and the culmination of the events set in chain at the beginning of the Trojan war are represented with such clear eyed fierceness. You cannot help but draw connections between this ancient tale of alienation, the displacement, the wars that cause not just a loss of home but a loss of self, and the brutal ways with which those in power use people who have lost everything and the modern refugee crisis that rumbles through the UK today. This is a tragedy that you cannot look away from.

This trilogy from Barker hasn't captured my imagination like so many of the other retellings of Homer/Greek legends but I am pleased that I read this one as I liked the focus on the story moving to Cassandra and the Trojans for a retelling of Agamemnon's return to Mycenae after the siege of Troy.

Continuing the story of the women of Troy following the Greek victory over the Trojans, The Voyage Home follows Cassandra (daughter of King Priam) and her maid, Ritsa, as they are transported to Mycenae with Agamemnon and his crew.

I love Greek mythology and really enjoyed the first two books in this series, so I was thrilled to receive a copy of the third book. Although I was disappointed to be leaving Briseis who was the star of the first two books, I did enjoy Ritsa’s point of view, and getting to follow some of the other powerful women from Greek myth. I was already somewhat familiar with Clytemnestra and her role in Agamemnon’s death, but I knew very little about Cassandra so I enjoyed reading her story. Also, as this book is following essentially ‘new’ characters, it would be entirely possible to read it as a standalone novel, without having read the first two books (but they’re brilliant, so why skip them?).

I have to say I didn’t love this book quite as much as the first two, but I would say that that’s a criticism of the story itself, rather than of Pat Barker’s re-telling. She’s done a great job with what she had to work with. It’s still an interesting story though, and excellently told.

My one and only gripe with this book is the use of rather out-of-place nursery rhymes to represent the ghostly presence of the children murdered by Atreus. Many of the lyrics used come from the traditional English nursery rhyme, Oranges and Lemons, which refers to the bells of certain churches in and around London. Using this particular rhyme in a book about ancient Greece makes no sense whatsoever, and really got on my nerves. I know it’s a petty complaint, but if you’ve put that much effort into researching the mythological stories, would it be that difficult to research and select a more appropriate rhyme (or not include the lyrics at all)?

I was looking forward to the last stage of this trilogy which has been so delicious!

I thought I might need a warm up on the characters but Barker's fluid prose takes us right back to the heart of the end of the Trojan Wars without a hiccup.

I found the novel captured yet again, the unheard, un-considered stories of the female population caught up in the power hungry, violent male population with, seemingly, the Gods condoning their actions. The perspective gives new voice to the aftermath of plunder and looks beneath the surface, literally, of the day to day.

I did love it. I did find it compelling and it was page turning. However, I found not only the slang but many parts of the text anachronistic. Whilst knowing this was the style of Homer (et al) and, always happy with poetic licence, I kept noticing it. The sailors calling the slave woman "love", Barker using her native Geordie lilt as she uses "mam" instead of mum/mother and the backdrop use of nursery rhymes, not yet created, was so obvious that it felt contrived. Obviously the whole story has a contrived element as womens history is sparsely reported but it was only these smaller elements that jarred for me.

Despite this, I did find myself enthralled and captivated by living this ancient story viscerally and becoming a witness to history.

With thanks to #NetGalley and @PenguinUKBooks for the opportunity to read and review

This novel and Pat Barker are brilliant. Utterly real in voice and setting, the novel plants characters and stories from myth solidly in the real world - in the earth - with voice and just the right details. I love Barker’s ability to take a story we think we know and show us so much more. She handles heavy themes that resonate across the centuries around the position of women, class and war with a light touch and delivers a compelling and satisfying story that has it all - love, revenge, grief, violence, ghosts… Pat Barker uses everyday language to speak with intelligence, sensitivity and beauty. Every character is complex, engaging and authentic. Brilliant.

Pat Barker has managed to reduce a tale that has retained its power for thousands of years to an episode of Eastenders. The story of Clytemnestra should have been an exhilarating finale to this trilogy but it is reduced to a domestic tale with no sense of the epic.

I remember seeing a production of the Oresteia in London a few years ago and the murder of Agamemnon still managed to cause a modern audience to gasp. This is a story of fate, of unstoppable events coming together as universal themes of love and revenge swirl to completion. The story the gods set in motion with the murder of Iphigenia comes to its equally horrific conclusion, as the cursed house of Atreus moves into another generation, dooming the children and unleashing the wrath of the Furies. Clytemnestra is at the centre of it all, a powerful Queen who has held her country together for 10 years and who now finally gets her chance to enact her revenge on her husband. How on earth can you make this story boring and mundane?

Pat Barker manages to do just that by making Clytemnestra seem like a bored housewife and Cassandra's prophetic curse is portrayed as little more than a bit of a nuisance. Having three narrators further weakens the story and Ritsa's own story feels shoe-horned in and rather pointless. The anachronistic language and modern phrases seem to be intentional, to make the tale seem more gritty and real but it is really jarring and further destroys any sense of time and place, and all sense of the epic. The sea voyage felt more like it was set in Elizabethan England and their is very little attempt to paint a picture of the palace and the surrounding area, or even to describe the famous lion gate and cyclopean walls. One of the few moments of any real power was the laying down of the red cloth and Agamemnon's entry into the city, stumbling along on the tide of red. Sadly this sense of impending doom wasn't pursued and the story soon fell back into the mundane.

And what was the point of the rather gothic haunting of the children, the handprints and the singing of English nursery rhymes? I could understand the theme of the murder of children - from the killing of the Trojan children, the killing of Iphigenia and linking that back to the curse on the house of Atreus - Agamemnon as a child killer, from a house of child killers, but the haunting was all very Hammer horror and really didn't sit well within this Greek tale. And after studiously avoiding almost all mention of the gods, suddenly the Furies appear in all their glory. Orestes and Elektra's portrayal was equally unsympathetic and left no room for empathy or character development.

I'm sure there are still tales to be told about the women of Troy and the great Greek Queens but sadly this is not one I can recommend.

Any retelling of the Greek myths and legends is going to be a challenge for a writer, as the tales are almost set in the stone from which we learned them at school. Pat Barker’s retelling is an intruiging mix of the ancient and modern, with some of the language taken straight from the streets of today's youth and much from the wtritings of the ancients. The story is an incredible achievement in that this combination of ancient and modern works so well. Each of the characters, from the ‘great’ King Agamemnon, to Cassandra, his mistress, to his wife, Clytemnestra, mourning her daughter, to the maid Ritsa - all entirely believable and skilfully drawn, becoming real people in the reader’s mind. This book is an extraordinary feat of skill and passion for the subject, and an absolutely riveting read too.

The Voyage Home by Pat Barker concludes her Trojan War trilogy by following Agamemnon and the women in his entourage on their return to Greece. Through the perspectives of Cassandra, now Agamemnon’s concubine and a high priestess of Apollo; Ritsa, her down-to-earth servant; and Clytemnestra, the queen seeking revenge for her sacrificed daughter, the novel explores intense themes of prophecy, grief, and the manipulation of women as pawns in male power games. Barker provides a poignant and nuanced view of human emotions, rendering each character both complex and tragic. The violence and tension in Mycenae, combined with deeply human perspectives, make this work a remarkable and original conclusion to the trilogy.

I loved the first two books in this series and there's always the worry that the next one isn't going to live up to expectations. However, this third (and I'm assuming final) installment did not disappoint! I finished this a few days ago and haven't stopped thinking about it... I'm trying to resist rereading the whole series again when I have an ever growing tbr pile staring at me accusingly. Absolutely brilliant 👏 👌

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin UK for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I will be leaving a full comprehensive review on my Goodreads profile. - connected to this account.

I enjoy Barker's most recent addition but felt the characters lacked distinct strong voices. The use of simple modern language with splashing of time accurate phrases was not for me. I found it pulled me out of the story - but it may not have this impact on every reader. An impressive effort to cover a story arc of this magnitude that is already so rooted in public conciousness.

I loved the first two books in Pat Barker’s masterful re-imaginings of the Greek war myths, so I had high hopes for this third book, and I wasn’t disappointed. There’s an incredible level of skill required to re-tell well-known stories in a way that feels believable, emotional and suspenseful, even though we know the endings.
Continuing the story of the captured Trojan women as they set sail for Mycenae with the victorious Greeks, this new novel centres on the fate of Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, priestess of Apollo, and a prophet condemned never to be believed. Also given voice are Cassandra’s slave or ‘catch fart’ Ritsa, and Agamemnon’s Queen Clytemnestra.
Like the previous books, Barker gives us a fresh view of these well-worn tales through the eyes of these women, who, from slaves to priestesses, princesses, and queens, are all victims of war-mongering men.
Despite her reputation, I confess I was very much ‘Team Clytemnestra’ cheering her on as she planned and carried out the murder of her husband Agamemnon as revenge for his cruel sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia ten years earlier. After 10 years of his bloody, brutal war, all that has been achieved is death and destruction. He deserves his gruesome death.
I know books are often delivered as trilogies, but I really hope there are more than 3 books in this series, I would hate this to be the last.
With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC.

Title: The Voyage Home
Author: Pat Barker
Rating: 4 Stars

If you're a fan of Greek mythology, The Voyage Home by Pat Barker will sweep you off your feet and into the tumultuous aftermath of the Trojan War.

A brilliant follow-up to Barker’s The Women of Troy, this novel dives deep into the lives of the captured Trojan women as they sail to Mycenae with their Greek conquerors.

At the heart of this story is Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, a priestess of Apollo, and a prophet cursed to never be believed—a fate sealed by the vengeful god she once spurned.

Cassandra is a fascinating character, psychologically intricate and deeply tragic. Barker masterfully portrays her as a woman burdened by the gift of true prophecy, yet doomed to watch as her visions of doom and destruction go unheeded. Her arrival in Mycenae with the victorious but arrogant Agamemnon sets off a chain reaction of betrayal, bloodshed, and vengeance that is as riveting as it is inevitable.

Barker doesn’t just retell an ancient myth; she breathes new life into it. She intricate this into a very realistic story line and it just flows! The world of The Voyage Home is rich with historical detail, but it’s the psychological depth of the characters that really shines.
Barker skillfully navigates the complex emotions and power dynamics at play, making you feel the weight of each character’s choices and the tragic inevitability of their fates.

For those who love stories inspired by Greek mythology, The Voyage Home is a mesmerising conclusion to Barker’s series, offering a fresh, creative perspective on the well-trodden myths of old.

The blend of history, mythology, and Barker’s sharp, empathetic writing makes this novel an absolute must-read.

I’ve really enjoyed this series and this book is no different. I found it easy to read and hard to put down.

This is the final part of Pat Barker's second war trilogy after her brilliant WWII books in the 1990s. In this series she focuses on giving a voice to the women who suffered during and immediately after the ten years of the Trojan War. The first two books were largely narrated by Briseis, the 19-year-old widow of the king of the Trojan city of Lyrnessus, destroyed by the Greeks. Briseis is now married to Achilles' right-hand man and has gone home with him, so this final instalment takes up the story of Cassandra and is told by her maid Ritsa.

Cassandra is the daughter of King Priam, given as war spoils to the Greek leader Agamemnon who has allegedly married her in spite of having another wife waiting for him. A former priestess of Apollo, Cassandra has been cursed by the god - given the gift of prophesy but doomed by him never to be believed. As they embark on the the journey back to his kingdom in Mycenae she steadfastly maintains that she is imminently to die, alongside Agamemnon. As the ship nears land, Cassandra and Ritsa's story is counterpointed by the preparations of Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, for his long-awaited return. Long-awaited but not for obvious reasons...

The first half of the book is set on the rickety ship they are sailing on, the second half on Mycenae in the first few days following the warriors' return. Ritsa is an astute and observant narrator, and for a slave she manages to get around a surprising amount. But like the second book in this series, ultimately not very much happens. Of the two halves, the second is the more atmospheric, with the portended doom for Cassandra and Agamemnon compounded by the ghosts of children who have been wronged and murdered in the palace, who chant ominous nursery rhymes in whispers everyone hears but nobody acknowledges.

The challenge with stories that have been well known for over a millennium is to give a fresh voice, an alternate viewpoint, to make them come alive for the reader. The first instalment did this admirably but it feels like there isn't quite enough in the story to stretch to two more books. I think Pat Barker's treatment of the Clytemnestra / Cassandra storyline also suffers in comparison with Claire North's House of Odysseus trilogy, which is wickedly sharp and fresh in a way that The Voyage Home and its predecessor, sadly, are not.

This is the final book in the trilogy which started with ‘The Trojan Women’, retelling the story of the wars between Greece and Troy and their aftermath from the point of view of the women involved. This book deals with the return of Agamemnon to Greece with his new trophy wife, Cassandra the soothsayer, and her servant cum slave, Ritsa. It is not an easy homecoming since on the way he sacrificed his own daughter for a fair passage and he has a wife at home, Clytemnestra, who despises him and wants him dead.

There’s a sense in which this is a wrapping up of the story and for a reader it would make sense to start at the beginning. However, Ritsa keeps the story rolling, while Cassandra wrestles with her capacity to foretell a future which no one believes, and Clytemnestra plots during a windy voyage home.

As in the other stories, the warriors are hopelessly damaged by conflict and the deeds they have done. This is especially true of Agamemnon and his character, its conflicts and contradictions are well explored by Pat Barker.

She writes extremely well. The story rolls along, occasionally in somewhat visceral ways but, given the content that is hardly surprising. She also manages a surprise at the end and a degree of uncertainty about what is to happen next in Greece.

A gloomy and atmospheric retelling centred at the end of the Trojan War; intertwining the lives of Cassandra and her Trojan slave and Queen Clytemnestra.

The cursed palace felt as real as the immortalised characters that inhabited its halls. There was a tension that ran throughout the story, a backdrop for a study in the struggles for agency within their circumstances these women all grappled with.

At times the pace slowed but never was anything rushed or felt half baked; everything was written with purpose and intention.

Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for this eArc.

The Voyage Home is the third book in a series about women in the time of the Trojan War by Pat Barker. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and while I wasn’t as fond of the second, I still enjoyed reading it. I’ve been anticipating this book and generally enjoyed it (though the first book is still a clear favourite for me)

I remember when I read Women of Troy and thought that the way Cassandra was characterised was so interesting. Like she was playing at being mad and actually quite a great manipulator. I was excited to read from her perspective and found I liked the balance between the madness of her condition of prophecy, the accrue awareness of the people around her and the dark acceptance of her own fate contrasting against the deep hope of survival. I thought Cassandra using her ‘daddy’s girl’ voice on Agamemnon was an interesting touch and demonstrated her ability to work the people (especially men) around her. It was nicely contrasted with Ritsa’s observations of her. With all this being said, I think I would have liked more. Of Cassandra’s thoughts and feelings in particular.

There have been an influx of Clytemnestra retellings in recent years, but I always get excited when I see her name. And she was magnificent, a clever, terrifying force with (incredibly justified) rage. I found myself enjoying her perspective the most.

There were times that the immersion broke for me and I felt the story lacked authenticity, like the use of words like ‘skedaddled’. Additionally, it had more references to urine than I thought was necessary. While I loved the change in protagonist (with a multi point of view mode of story telling) there was no label indicating who was speaking, sometimes I needed to read and reread a page and a half to figure out who the protagonist was. This book is dark, given the historical backdrop against the Trojan War and its aftermath. The treatment and experiences of women has been a main feature of these books and The Voyage Home is no different. Sexual violence occurs frequently and I encourage audiences to be aware of this going in.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are all my own.

The Voyage Home is a masterclass in Greek mythology retellings – showcasing Pat Barker’s extraordinary characterisation and prose.

Barker brings us the final instalment in her The Women of Troy trilogy, focusing on the enslaved Ritsa (body woman to Cassandra), Cassandra and Clytemnestra. This has always centred on the stories of women confined to the margins whose stories have gone untold, like Ritsa, as well as new spins on some of the most famous moments of the Trojan War saga. Narratively, I really enjoyed the choice to give Ritsa first person narration and her more privileged fellow protagonists third person narratives, redressing that power balance a little. For me, Clytemnestra’s confrontation of Agamemnon is a part of the story that has always stuck with me. It is a tragic and heartfelt moment that also speaks to revenge and long-held anger. Barker muses on fate and the continual way women are used as pawns within this conflict, even away from the battlefield.

Clytemnestra is returning the violence inflicted upon Iphigenia and it is a cathartic unleash upon a monstrous man, but it also continues this never-ending cycle of death and destruction. It is a damning indictment of patriarchal power and its ripple effects through the generations. I have always also been fascinated with the figure of Cassandra, cursed to foresee the future but never to be believed. When this is combined with the rape culture underpinning her story, it rings uncomfortably true to the modern day. Barker’s characterisation of Cassandra is interesting and a subtle take that showcases a different side to her. I just always love how complex her characterisation is – it is layered and messy and deeply human.

The Voyage Home is exquisite – it is tragic, it is bold and it is unforgettable.