the women of troy

Historic novel explores the aftermath of the fall of Troy

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home as victors – all they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind has vanished, the seas becalmed by vengeful gods, and so the warriors remain in limbo – camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed, kept company by the women they stole from it.

Barker continues her retelling of The Iliad, which began with The Silence of the Girls, putting the focus on the women who are often forbidden to a voice in this classic tale. While the first book told the story of the siege of Troy, this second book is set after the fall of the city, in the immediate aftermath of a battle which saw all Troy’s male inhabitants slaughtered and most of its female citizens captured as slaves.

The setting is undeniably fascinating. The horrific reality of life for the surviving women is vividly brought to life. With a culture of violence and tensions simmering just below the surface, the Greek camp is a tinderbox just waiting for a spark to set it all aflame. Unfortunately, this tension remains below the surface throughout the book, and very little actually happens.

Our main characters is Briseis, formerly Achilles’ prize, now pregnant with his child and married to Alcimus. She spends most of her time wandering around the camp, visiting the other women – including Helen, Hecuba and Cassandra – and having the same repetitive conversations over and over again.

While this book claims to give a voice to the women of The Iliad, there are several chapters here focusing on Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, and Calchas, a prophet. Barker did the same with The Silence of the Girls, where there were more than a few chapters from Achilles’ point of view. I can’t really understand why, as it seems to undermine the whole point of this series.

Though this book had its problems, I admittedly would probably read the next book – assuming there’s going to be another one – in the hope that there would be a bit more meat to the plot.

New book releases August 2021

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She’s seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous. Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes, that doesn’t mean she’s a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carla is reeling from the murder of her nephew. She trusts no one. But how far will she go to find peace?

The author of the phenomenally successful The Girl on the Train hit a bit of a mess with her most recent novel, Into the Water, but that hasn’t kept me from getting excited about this new release.

Release date: 31st August

The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home victors, loaded with their spoils: their stolen gold, stolen weapons, stolen women. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind does not come. The gods have been offended and so the victors remain in limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed. Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can – with young, dangerously naïve Amina, with defiant Hecuba, with Calchus, the disgraced priest – and begins to see the path to a kind of revenge.

Following her bestselling The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker continues her atmospheric retelling of the Trojan War.

Release date: 26th August

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

Josie Morrow is Girl One, the first of nine Miracle babies conceived without male DNA on an experimental commune known as the Homestead. The Girls were raised in the shadow of controversy – plagued by zealots calling them aberrations – until a suspicious fire claimed the lives of three people, leaving the survivors to scatter across the United States. Years later, upon learning that her mother has gone missing, Josie sets off on a desperate road trip, tracking down the only people who might help: her estranged sisters. Tracing clues her mother left behind, they journey back through their past. But someone out there is determined to stop Josie finding the truth about what really happened at the Homestead.

The author of one of my favourite books from recent years, The Possessions, finally returns with an electrifying thriller about love, ambition and the bonds of sisterhood.

Release date: 5th August

Velvet was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

1970s Mexico City. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite seeks escape from her humdrum life in the stories of passion and danger filling the latest issue of Secret Romance. She is deeply envious of her neighbour, a beautiful art student apparently living the life of excitement and intrigue Maite craves – so when Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman, journeying deep into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. But someone else is looking for Leonora. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who longs to escape his own life. Watching Maite from a distance, he comes to see her as a kindred spirit. As Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, they can no longer escape the dangers threatening to consume their lives.

The author of Mexican Gothic returns with her second book, a historical noir novel where no one and nothing is as it seems.

Release date: 17th August

The Family Plot by Megan Collins

At twenty-six, Dahlia Lighthouse is haunted by her upbringing. Raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she is unable to move beyond the disappearance of her twin brother, Andy, when they were sixteen. After several years away and following her father’s death, Dahlia returns to the house, where the family makes a gruesome discovery: buried in their father’s plot is another body – Andy’s, his skull split open with an axe. Dahlia is quick to blame Andy’s murder on the serial killer who terrorised the island for decades, while the rest of her family reacts to the revelation in unsettling ways. As Dahlia grapples with her own grief and horror, she realises that her eccentric family, and the mansion itself, may hold the answers to what happened to her twin.

This delightfully gothic-sounding novel is a tale of suspense and horror with a you-can’t-out-it-down plot.

Release date: 17th August

With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

If she’s being honest, Sammie Lucas is scared of her son. Working from home in the close quarters of their Florida house, she lives with one wary eye on Samson, a sullen, unknowable boy who resists her every attempt to bond with him. Uncertain in her own feelings about motherhood, she tries her best while growing increasingly resentful of Monika, her confident but absent wife. As Samson grows from feral toddler to surly teenager, Sammie’s life begins to deteriorate into a mess of unruly behaviour. When her son’s hostility finally spills over into physical aggression, Sammie must confront her role in the mess – and the possibility that it will never be clean again.

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel about the struggles of motherhood and queer family dynamics.

Release date: 5th August

The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean

Science is a force for good in the world – at least, usually. But sometimes, when obsession gets the better of scientists, they twist a noble pursuit into something sinister. Bestselling author Sam Kean tells the true story of what happens when unfettered ambition pushes otherwise rational men and women to cross the line in the name of science, trampling ethical boundaries and often committing crimes in the process. This book guides the reader through 2,000 years of history, from Ancient Egypt to Manhattan Project, Nazi Germany to contemporary failings of mental health care.

A mixture of science and true crime, the author of numerous popular science novels puts his own spin on the history of science and medicine.

Release date: 5th August

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris

It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s School. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She’ll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all, you can’t keep a good woman down.

This new psychological thriller from the popular author of Chocolat has been described as ‘exhilarating, addictive, fierce’ by author Bridget Collins.

Release date: 4th August

The Husbands by Chandler Baker

Recently, Nora has started to feel that ‘having it all’ comes with a price, one her husband doesn’t seem to be paying quite so heavily. She loves Hayden, but why is it that, however hard men work, their wives always seem to work that little bit harder? When their house-hunting takes them to an affluent suburban neighbourhood, Nora’s eyes are opened to a new world. Here, the wives don’t make all the sacrifices. Here, the husbands can remember the kids’ schedules, and iron and notice when the house needs dusting. But when she becomes involved in a wrongful death case involving one of the local residents, Nora begins to suspect that there’s a dark secret at the heart of this perfect world. One that some will kill to protect.

This new thriller by popular author Chandler Baker has been described as ‘a howl of feminist rage, but one that is pure fun’ by Stylist.

Release date: 3rd August

Her Heart for a Compass by Sarah Ferguson

London, 1865. In an attempt to rebel against a society where women are expected to conform, free-spirited Lady Margaret Montagu Scott flees her confines and an arranged marriage. But Lady Margaret’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, as close friends with Queen Victoria, must face the public scrutiny of their daughter’s impulsive nature, and Margaret is banished from polite society. On a journey of self-discovery that will take her to Ireland, America and then back to Britain, Lady Margaret must search for her place and her identity in a changing society.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has penned her debut novel which sounds perfect for fans of Bridgerton and Victoria.

Release date: 3rd August