A retelling of the Achilles story primarily (although not exclusively) from the perspectuve of Briseis, a queen from a sacked city who is now enslaved by the Greeeks and awarded to Achilles, This is myth retold for the MeToo era, taking the viewpoint and story fo the many many enslaved women, highborn and low, who are now serving girls, seamstresses and repeatedly, violently, used for sexual pleasure and breeding. The perspectuve is new, and one worth exploring - if anything the book doesn’t go far enough in the women’s perspective as to drive the story of Achilles along there are repeated diversions from the Briseis story to focus on achilles and Patroclus in ‘scenes’ where Briseis has no direct access and therefore can’t give a view. .A purist view could be that structurally this doesn’t work as well, but i’d argue you need the Achilles aspects to drive Briseis’ changing fortunes. Barker acknowledges this, and to an extent challenges the reader about their preconceptions and expectation of the narrative.
None of this would count for much if the narrative wasn’t thrilling, this is one of the greatest stories of all time and Barker clearly relishes taking her spin on it. Violent, epic, unpleasant and rewarding all at once, this is a fascinating tale.

This is a beautifully detailed novel, the world is rich and immersive and made me want nothing more than to be there with the characters.
The characters were strong and likeable and the story had me gripped from beginning to end. Even when i wasn't reading this book i was thinking about it with such intensity that at every spare moment i would dive back in if even for a sentence.

Great read, highly recommend to any one with even the slightest interest in history.

There is nothing better than discovering a new (to you) favourite author with a massive backlist that you can then plough through. I can't believe I've never read a Pat Barker before—I flew through this with that crabby feeling you get when you just can't put a book down, and must return to it every chance you get. I had a vague recollection of the Iliad, mostly gleaned from Horrible Histories, but Briseis' perspective felt so immediate and visceral, and relevant for today (though when she wonders what future generations will make of Ancient Greece felt like a bit too much of a wink to the reader). Overall, I loved it.

I was drawn to The Silence of the Girls by the blurb: "The Trojan War is known as a man's story: a quarrel between men over a woman, stolen from her home and spirited across the sea. But what of the other women in this story, silenced by history? What words did they speak when alone with each other, in the laundry, at the loom, when laying out the dead?" As someone passionate about expanding my horizons and thinking differently, I thought this was an exciting and fascinating concept and I eagerly anticipated the book. Sadly, the final product didn't quite live up to the promises contained within that description.

The book opens strongly, detailing the life of protagonist Briseis as her city falls and she is taken into captivity as a slave to the Greeks. She's given to Achilles and the atrocities committed against women are laid bare. She has seen her family murdered before her eyes and she now faces rape and abuse from her captors. It's graphically depicted in places but it does serve to show how little women were respected.

However, the book is divided into three parts and it is in part two that it takes a turn. Now we are increasingly given the perspective of Achilles. We move from a story about Briseis with Achilles, to a story of Briseis and Achilles. A small shift, perhaps, but one that undermined the promises of the blurb. Essentially, it is as though Pat Barker, the author discovered that there was no story without the man. I think that this is a shame.

The self-awareness of the novel redeems it slightly - Briseis knows she lives in a male dominated world. Twice Briseis laments this reality, first stating: "...make no mistake, this was his story - his anger, his grief, his story." and then later concluding: "His story. His, not mine.". It's almost as though Barker is saying that she had no choice but to include Achilles' perspective to drive the novel forward. Others may disagree and claim that this was inevitable, but for me it is a blemish on what was an exciting prospect.

Criticism aside, this is a well written and always engaging novel. The story is inventive and does offer an interesting perspective of the story. I enjoyed it but I do leave feeling disappointed the whole story wasn't from the perspective of women. Progress, yes, but I would love more! At the end of reading this book I have to say that the women remain, at least partially, silenced.

Beautifully written, wonderfully told and characterised. Definitely thought provoking. Mainly a wonderful read, although I am uncomfortable with the idea our narrator is still less able to tell her own story than that of the men. It’s acknowledged throughout though nonetheless frustrating for all that

The Silence of the Girls recounts the last years of the war of Troy from the prospective of Briseis, a queen whom, after the sack of her city, is taken by Achilles as his slave.
For the most part I enjoyed the book, but there were some things which kept me from loving it more. The writing style was beautiful, and I loved Briseis’ narration. Some of her reflections were very deep and emotional, and I also liked her as a character. I understood her feelings and motivations and felt close to her. After Briseis, the more developed character is Achilles: some chapters are told in third person narration, from his point of view. I never liked him, but it is clear the author did a good job with his characterization, making him a complex character, both ruthless and sympathetic. More than Achilles, I loved his relationship with Patroclus, which was also beautifully portrayed, and one of my favourite things of the novel.
I had some problems with the pacing. There were parts which I really liked, but others felt slow and hard to get through. Some of Achilles’ chapters didn’t feel so necessary, but maybe this was a personal problem because I don’t like him, and other readers might feel differently.
All in all, a recommended read if you are fascinated by Homer’s poem.

Though I've known Pat Barker's name for many years, I'd not read any of her books before I picked up The Silence of the Girls. This one appealed so much because of two things: I love retellings of myths, and I especially love female-focused retellings of myths. And The Silence of the Girls is therefore right up my street.

The basic plot of the book was one I already knew, having been super into Greek mythology as a kid, and later studying Classics and Ancient Greek at school. But in looking at the story from the perspective of a character who, although integral to the story of the Trojan War, has very little agency in the traditional stories, Barker brings a whole new dimension to the story. With the war having already dragged on for many years, Briseis is captured when her city is sacked, and given to Achilles as a prize. We experience life in the Greek camp not through the eyes of Odysseus or one of the other 'heroes', but a Trojan woman whose seen her family killed and her city destroyed.

Briseis is a wonderful main character. She's full of emotion, struggling to find a place in the camp of the man who slaughtered her family members in front of her eyes. Barker has imbued her with great depth, showing her internal turmoil when she becomes close to people in Achilles' camp, and her desire to help people, even when they're cutting down her own people. Briseis is surrounded by an uncomfortable mix of other women who've become slaves in the Greek camp, slaves brought by the Greeks from their own homes, and the Greeks themselves. Through Briseis' conversations with other characters, and observations of the camp around her, Barker paints a picture of a disparate group, involved in a war that's gone on far longer than anyone expected, and with vastly different desires and expectations for the outcome of the war.

I loved Barker's writing in this book. I don't know how it compares to her other books, but I found it suited the story perfectly. Briseis tends to commentate on the things she sees and experiences, which comes across as a little detached, but works well given her position in the camp. The short sections from the perspectives of other characters provide a nice counter to the main perspective, and those voices are very different from Briseis'. Barker also doesn't shy away from the realities of war, and her prose reflects that. It's grim, it's dark, and the suffering is immense. 

The Silence of the Girls is not an easy read. Set near the end of a long, bloody war, there's little in the way of relief for anyone, and certainly not for the main character. But Barker's grim rendering of life in the Greek camp is captivating and strangely beautiful, and even knowing the eventual outcome doesn't make the book any less engaging. If you're interested in retellings of mythological stories, and particularly those focusing on characters who've traditionally had limited agency, this is definitely a book you should consider.

The fashion for retelling tales from classical literature is surprising, but when one looks at which authors are engaged in revivifying the ancient legends, perhaps the movement is clear. Colm Toibin (House of Names, 2017), Christa Wolf (Kassandra), any number of fantasy recountings of the war at Troy, not to mention stand-alone books on Helen and Achilles; Ariadne and Medea (two generations before Troy's fall). Pat Barker creates another Lyrnessus, a city near Troy, which is destroyed by Achilles and his men. The narrative voice is that of Briseis, the widowed young queen of the now-ruined city. 'Briseis' is an early version of a failure of balance between Agamemnon's and Achilles' petty quarrel about which of them gets which prize slave when Chryseis is reclaimed by her aged father.
I imagine that Barker may have been thinking about how much people trafficking now might resemble ancient slavery. Or how plague arrived in unhygienic army camps, brought by huge numbers of rats. What is clear is that Briseis is part of a silent population of enslaved women, who must live and die as objects.
There's a compact and very good wikipedia page for Briseis, immortality of a kind, as well as an impressive list of interpretations of Briseis's many lives.

I loved it, and I would unashamedly, whole heartedly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in history. The story is a simple, and a familiar one – the fall of Troy. The voice is less familiar – Bresis, the slave-girl awarded to Achilles.
There have been a host of retellings of this story in recent years, perhaps the most famous is The Song of Achilles, but Pat Barker enters at the very top of the list with modern, colloquial language that serves to underline the familiarity of the characters in a way that many authors lose chasing after faux-authenticity. And yet despite the modern, occasionally funny dialogue she does not ignore the horror of warfare and what women in these situations would have gone through. The first few pages especially make for heavy reading, and Hecuba’s grief at the end very nearly had me in tears of my own.
What sets this novel apart from almost any other I’ve read this year is the humanity of it. Because amidst the horrors – and there are many – there are also people. It’s a genuinely exceptional novel from an equally exceptional writer and I cannot recommend it enough.

Briseis lives in Troy during the wars with Greece over Helen. Women there are separated from men and have no say in how they lead their lives. When the Greeks storm her castle, Briseis, formerly Queen of her domain, becomes a slave and is 'awarded' as a prize of war to warrior Achilles, as famous then as now.
Has Briseis come off well, as other women captured en bloc either met a brutal instant death or died a slow lingering death through being fed to the foot soldiers to 'use as they wish'?
The Trojan War does have a famous women at its heart, but it's the men who have stories woven around them, heroes to many generations. Yet all these women have their own story and are just as brave as the fighters around which history revolves.
Briseis is passed over as a war spoil and has her own war fought over her, all the while observing the central characters and detailing their flaws. Yes, this is fiction (but so is the original) but Pat Barker adds a new slant to the story of one of the most famous wars in history.

Thank you NetGalley. A very enjoyable read. Well written and interesting. Pat Barker has an interesting take on the Illiad. There are some angularities to the "retelling" but they do not mar the book. Highly recommended.

Content warning: Rape (basically throughout, it’s not graphics – for the most part – but it is there from the opening to the end). Violence.

I know the story of the Illiad pretty well. I wouldn’t say I’m an expert on the Homeric version, and the Odyssey has always been my favourite of the pair, but I have a good grasp of the major players in this story. If you’d never encountered this story before I actually think this might be a good place to start – especially if you’re a bit daunted by the idea of having to read ten years of war. What you don’t get is a lot of the setup, Menelaus and Helen’s ‘courtship’, the summoning of the Greeks to war, the murder of Iphigenia etc. This story starts in the middle of the siege of Troy. I think you pick up enough of the background information to get by in this book, but those looking to fully explore the story may need a little bit more information.

This is an incredibly sad book, whether you know how the siege of Troy ended or not. The world in which Briseis and the other women live is hard, they are forced to serve the men who murdered their friends and families, they are treated as objects to be traded, it's horrifying - even more so because this is how these women would have been treated, this isn't a fiction. However, in comparison to other books that have women in terrible situations (*cough* The Surface Breaks *cough*) this book found the moments of beauty and of triumph within that awful experience. That's not to say that Pat Barker shies away from the horrors of the siege and the situation these women were forced into, but she manages to make the story such that you feel the ebb and flow of the tragedy. This makes it a little easier to read, as well as giving the overall story more of a sense of narrative cohesion. To focus solely on the tragedy of their existence would, arguably, not have accomplished the idea of centring the story around these women, in that sense they would have been as devoid of character as they are in the original myth. Instead, they are shown to be women who exist in a tragedy, not women defined by one. They are people who find places of joy in their captivity and it is those moments that allow the story (and the reader) to breathe within this narrative. 

I was pretty pleased with how this book handled the Achilles/Patroclus relationship - which has been one of those things that everyone tackles differently. This story doesn't ignore their relationship, nor does it make it totally explicit. I think that, on the whole, this book is about exploring different angles to this well-known tale, this way of depicting the relationship is one of those angles. 

There are moments in this story that I did feel like it was more about the men than the women, however, I think that's totally understandable given that you do have to still tell the story of the siege of Troy and that requires a male POV because it was the men who were doing the fighting. But the central character to this story is Briseis and the focus is finding her place, and the place of other women, in this narrative. 

This book is not an easy book to read, in fact, it is hugely difficult at times to face the reality of the situation these women were in, particularly since one cannot help but see how little has changed in some situations in the world today. Nonetheless, this is a powerful re-imagining of one of my favourite stories. In terms of retellings, this is exactly what I like to see, a new perspective, new ideas. 

My rating: 4/5 stars

A compelling, captivating story, The Silence of the Girls is a tragic retelling of one of the most famous stories of the ancient world : the Trojan War. After her city falls to the Greeks and is burnt down to ashes, Briseis, the wife of Lyrnesuss's king, is held captive along the rest of the womenfolk, and becomes a slave. As her luck has it, she is given as a prize to the very same man that killed her brothers and husband : the infamous Achilles.

And so starts the story of one of the most time-consuming and epic wars of all time. And war is believed to be a matter for the Man. Women are to be silent. But this time we see it all through the eyes of a woman ; a slave woman, nonetheless, and one who used to be the wife of a king. What will life hold for Briseis and the rest of Lyrnessus's women from now on? As more and more cities fall under the Greeks, more and more women will have to meet this same fate. But what are the women thinking? What do they talk about in hushed tones when their chores are done? What do they share with one another? This is the women's war, the things they witnessed, the things they thought, and their own struggles with their fate.

The Silence of the Girls is such a multi-dimensional, tragic and yet compelling story, that it is quite hard to properly describe every aspect of it. This is a story about the horrors of war, the pain behind the supposed glory of fighting, and all that is left behind. Focused particularly on the women, the story gives the reader a glimpse into the fate that awaited the women of cities that fell into the enemy's hands. Death is not always the worst of fates, as the Trojan women teach us. Through the eyes of Briseis, we follow the women's fates through the pain, anger, humiliation and fear they have to endure ; and, above all else, the objectification that roots even in their own minds.

But it is not only the story of the captives' mind. Briseis sees it all : day in and day out, she listens and watches everything she can. And that is how we follow the story of Achilles, to an extent that even his comrades don't. You can practically feel the anger reeking from the great warrior, you can feel the love for the friend he considers a brother, Patroclus, and follow his life through the last parts of the Trojan War.

The story is incredibly well researched and accurate. The author has followed the story of Iliad to an impressive point, transferring to us not only the thoughts of the heroes, but also the feelings that must have been present in such events. But, above all else, we have to remember that this is the story of the women, and listen closely to everything they have to say.

A retelling of the Trojan war, the Iliad, Ancient Greece, o baby, count me in! Please give me this story!
(And #Netgalley did!)

War is a thing for men, thought about of by men, started by men, done by men, fought by men, lost
by men. But still women are the ones who men fight about and the ones who lose the most.

First of all, look at the cover, it grabbed my attention immediately because it is stunning and so telling what you will be finding inside.
The short description though is what grabbed me and pulled me over the line to sent in my request.

The vivid way of describing the surroundings and happenings makes it seem as if you are right there next to Briseis.
You get to live the darkest period of her life beside her. But you also get to see how she loses everything including her
freedom to how she tries to overcome that dreading fact and tries to find herself again.

I was delighted when I saw that my request to review an early copy for this book was accepted! Once again, thank you so much Netgalley and author Pat Barker.

Story: 5/5
Characters: 4,5/5 Loved Briseis, loved Achilles slightly less.
Writing: 4,5/5 The sudden switch between characters about halfway, was slightly confusing for a moment.
Reread: Yes, for sure!

Anger and Wrath
This new novel from Pat Barker will be advertised as presenting a new angle on the story of the Trojan War – an examination of Homer’s heroes from the point of view of their ‘prizes’, the captive women who became their victims. And, of course, on one level that is precisely what the novel is: its chief character is Briseis, captive princess, sex-slave of Achilles; many of the other characters fall into a similar category, some familiar from the Iliad, such as Chryseis, Hecuba and Andromache, others created from Barker’s own imagination.
It is unfair to suggest, however, that this has not been done before: Euripides’ great play, The Trojan Women, explores very similar themes, while the Iliad itself provides a very sympathetic insight into its female characters and the often brutal treatment they received. Indeed, there has been some recent fiction following the same characters, Emily Hauser’s For the most beautiful for example. Barker’s version is much grittier than Hauser’s, unflinchingly following through how captive women might actually have been treated, rather than softening and romanticising the sufferings of victims in war.
Yet, despite the centrality of the female prisoners, Barker treats the source material, i.e. the Iliad, with huge respect. Almost everything which Briseis experiences is consistent with the words of Homer, for example in the portrayal of ‘gentle’ Patroclus who promised he would persuade Achilles to marry her.
Not only that, but as the story progresses, Achilles himself becomes more central, not just a brutal warrior, but presented as a complex and troubled man, and importantly, again entirely consistent with Homer. The wonderful scene in Iliad Book 24 when Priam enters Achilles’ hut to beg for the body of the dead Hector to be restored for burial, is echoed in Barker’s novel, as far as the phrasing of the language, and even incorporates lines from Michael Longley’s poem Ceasefire which centres on the same scene. But this is no simple pastiche of Homer. Barker builds much originality of plot and theme into her narrative, offering Briseis an opportunity for escape, and a conclusion to her story which is surprising and satisfying.
This is a serious piece of fiction, but it is often earthily humorous. It focuses squarely on the suffering caused by war on the powerless, its inhumanity, and in the portrayal of Achilles, its effects on the mind and emotions of a brutalised man.

Fantastic re-telling of the Trojan War epic from the perspective of the captured women. Pat Barker is an evocative writer, who imbues the historically silent victims with a convincing and compelling voice.

This is the story of the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles, a key event in the Trojan War, told from the point of view of Briseis, the woman awarded to Achilles as a prize of war. Part mythical and part factual, this is a frighteningly engaging story of the fate of women when their men are overpowered and killed during conflict. Living in what is effectively a rape camp, Briseis tiptoes her way between Achilles and Patroclus, his closest friend and ally, observing, reflecting and ultimately surviving, to leave the battlefield and move on with her life.

Very well written, horrific in the detailed imagining of the circumstances of the war, the camp and the hideous vulnerability of the women, this leads to reflection of similar situations in different parts of the world today.

The Silence of the Girls continues the current trend for Greek myth retold from a female perspective. This time, we follow Briseis as she becomes Achille's slave and witnesses the end of the Trojan War. In this book, we see Achilles in a very different light from usual, with the narrative split between him and Briseis. Overall, I loved the characterisation, and Barker's careful pacing kept me always eager to turn to the next page, to see what would happen next. It prose was easy reading but never dull, and in conclusion, I would definitely recommend it for those who love myth retellings and historical fiction, and I am giving it 4.5 stars.

The Silence of the Girls is a reimagining of the Trojan War told from the perspective of Briseis, the woman forced into slavery and given to Achilles, only to be the apparent cause of his quarrel with Agamemnon. It starts with Briseis taken from her city by the Greeks and follows the story of her, Achilles, Patroclus, and the eventual fall of Troy.

Having Briseis as the central character and narrator allows for the depiction of the women, mostly slaves, as woven into the Trojan War as the men. Female perspective is given, though Achilles and Patroclus do have occasional point of view moments in the narrative as well as Briseis' voice. Perhaps the most notable element of this perspective shift is the sense of listening in: women are not only not involved in the decisions, but often their knowledge is overheard, gossip rather than direct speech. Particularly by the end of the novel, Briseis is telling Achilles' story, but there are parts she does not see, must report as other women saw. This highlights the titular silence, but also is a reminder of the sense of retelling, of the innumerable versions of the Trojan War that have been told.

Much of the novel does not feel hugely different from a lot of other novels and retellings of the Trojan War, and the style feels thoroughly fitting to Greek myth modern retelling, using a lot of description of senses and translating speech into harsh, modern phrases to get across realities of war, armies, and sex. However, there are moments that stand out and make The Silence of the Girls feel more than just another Trojan tale; in particular, Barker's depiction of Achilles' grief at Patroclus' death, which takes on a visceral quality as described by both a third person narrator and by Briseis' narrative voice. Achilles' sense of loss also at his own self for the qualities that only Patroclus knew about him redeemed any of the elements that felt like they were just doing the same thing as other novels for me.

The Silence of the Girls is undoubtably one for fans of classical retellings, particularly those focusing on female characters and showing other sides to war. From the title, I was expecting more female voices within the novel, but actually the predominance of male characters even within this book perhaps shows what lasts of the Troy story even when women are given a voice.

This is one of those books that, when you get to the end, you sit slightly dazed by the intensity of the experience, and need a day or two to adjust to reality. It may be the best book I'll read this year.

I've been a big fan of Pat Barker since first reading her Regeneration trilogy, and wondered whether a step back into the classical world of the Illiad would be to journey into a safer and more heroic world. Not at all. In The Silence of the Girls Barker gives a voice to Briseis, the slave girl that Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel over, and through her, brings Homer's silent women to life. The story that Briseis has to tell feels absolutely true to Homer's Odyssey, and yet completely modern: the war that she describes, and its effects on the participants, is only a breath away from the almost more-civilized killing fields of the First World War, and from the atrocities of more recent conflicts Barker shows the brutality behind the heroics of classical mythology, and yet even the most monstrous of the Greeks retains their humanity.

I found this book completely gripping.