This is a follow up to the amazing The Silence of the Girls. It is written beautifully and tells about the pains "silenced" women have endured.

Retellings of the great Greek sagas and legends are one of my favourite genres within fiction but this one just didn't work for me at all. It had none of the depth that Haynes & Miller provide and for a book called the Women of Troy it felt a lot more about the men and didn't add much new perspective to the original.

This is a follow up to The Silence of the Girls, but works equally as a standalone - provided you have a basic background knowledge of the players and big events of the Trojan War.

It's thoroughly immersive - the sights and sounds of the days following the fall of Troy are brought vividly to life, and at times you could cut the atmosphere witha knife. It's slow moving but a brilliant character study which is a fair compromise to a slight, slow plot.

Another fascinating take on a story most will know something about but from a refreshing, different perspective.

This is the sequel to The Silence of the Girls, and you do really need to have read that first.

When the Greek army have squeezed themselves inside the Trojan Horse with the hopes of smuggling themselves inside the walls of Troy. Their ruse is a success, and soon every Trojan man, boy and male infant has been slaughtered. The women are captured and distributed among the Greeks as slaves. The Greeks plan to depart, but the wind is blowing in the wrong direction and they are forced to wait. With no war to distract them, they are restless and argumentative.

To the Greeks, the women are invisible: they talk freely in front of them and the women are not considered to have opinions or make plans of their own. This gives the women a degree of freedom but it they are still very much dependent on the men for their survival.

“We women are peculiar creatures. We tend not to love those who murder our families.”

The first book was based quite closely on the Iliad but this one covers events after that and it has given Pat Barker more freedom to imagine how events emerged. Unlike the first book, the women really do have a voice this time around and several of them are interesting and rounded characters. They are traumatised - they have been raped, they have seen their loved ones killed, they don’t know what the future holds – but they are determined to survive. Briseis is also a more complex and sympathetic character who is still processing her feelings for Achilles (whose child she carries) and Alcimus (to whom she is now married).

This was a really satisfying book and an excellent sequel.

This continues Briseis's narrative of life after Troy has been destroyed. Now she is married to Alcimus but carrying Achilles' child. Her position is as tenuous as it ever was - slave, prize, wife. Her friendships and alliances with the other women weave her through the story. Through her we see the hatred of Helen and the distrust of Cassandra. We also see Pyrrhus trying to live up to the legacy of his father Achilles.

As this follows the section of the tale where the Greeks are waiting for the Gods to forgive them and improve the weather so they can return home there is a slowness to the book. Which also leads to a sense of menace - just like the characters the readers are waiting for something to happen. Which will come first a change in the weather or fighting between the Greek heroes?

I had high expectations for this book, I like the cover and a pal with similar taste loved it. However, these expectations weren't met.

I didn't read the previous book and maybe I should have to see the author's writing style... anyhow, this one can be read as a standalone.

Nothing really happens, it drags for too long and it bored me. For a book that was supposed to be focused on the women of Troy, it is also told from the point of view of men which I found wasn't a good move. The way this author writes this retelling was not my cup of tea so this book wasn't for me.

Having recently devoured The Silence of the Girls I was chomping at the bit to get my hands on this and delighted to receive the advance copy via netgalley. Again I was completely blown away by the writing, humorous and heartbreaking in equal measure. I greatly enjoy this period, and Barker's narrative brings ancient history to life in shocking, breathtaking detail. An incredible talent and a fantastic read, thank you for the opportunity.

A brilliant read about the women of Troy who were taken by the Greeks as slaves after the downfall of Troy. The story is told from the viewpoint of Briseis, the wife of Achilles, This is the first book I have read written by Pat Barker and now keen to read more about Greek mythology.

I really enjoyed Pat Barker's first foray into Greek history and this is much the same. It was a fab read, filled with the power women contain (even when slaves), and focuses on their untold story after the war of Troy.

I have become more than a little obsessed by the whole Trojan War saga and Greek mythology in general over the last few years. I absolutely loved Pat Barker's Silence of the Girls and this new book, a sequel I guess, is just as engrossing and entertaining. As before with Silence of the Girls, Briseis takes centre stage and again we get to meet some of the lesser known ladies and hear their stories. Another wonderful read that has inspired me to finally have a go at Homer. Wish me luck...

I loved ‘The Silence of the Girls’ and I loved ‘The Women of Troy’ too. Pat Barker manages to bring this tale of the fall of Troy through the eyes of the women to life. I never had much interest in this era but these books have sparked my interest by giving the characters more to relate to.

Pat Barker has triumphed in the fictional re-telling of a classic tale in The Women of Troy. Following on from Silence of the Girls, the strong female characters continue to brave a hostile, blood thirsty world as the city of Troy is invaded and powerful men make slaves of the defeated women and murder their men.
The Gods are angry; the powerful Greek invaders stranded by a becalmed sea and the Women of Troy are living a dangerous and sometimes pitiful existence.
This is a book that will live long in the memory having built on the first novel, but also easily read as a stand alone story.
If you're a fan of historical fiction or enjoy a re-telling of ancient myths and legends, you are sure to love this!

I have loved Pat Barker’s books ever since reading Union Street which describes austerity in the North East through the eyes of eight women. The author is able to get into the heads of the women she writes about taking readers with her on her characters’ journeys, in this case, the lives of the Trojan women, We have a retelling of the Iliad through the eyes of the women who are slaves after the capture of Troy in the well known story of The Trojan Horse. It is interesting how differently they view Helen in comparison with how Homer depicts her. So much of this story is sadly still true today in some parts of the world. The book is very well written and I highly recommend it. Thank you Netgalley for giving me the chance to read it in advance of publication.

War’s end

Pat Barker’s second Trojan War novel begins inside the Wooden Horse as the Greeks wait to see if Odysseus’ trick will work and The Trojans will transport the Horse within their walls. This is an effective scene with the stink of the soldiers’ sweat, their fear that the plan is just too preposterous, their attempts to appear brave and unconcerned. The scene centres on the youthful son of Achilles, the lately arrived Pyrrhus, who has much to prove to the other warriors and to himself. The fall of Troy and Pyrrhus’ brutal murder of King Priam are rendered with apocalyptic violence, Pyrrhus realising he has fallen lamentably short of his father’s ability, insulted by the dying Priam in front of the watching women of Troy. Pyrrhus orders the body of the dead king to be unburied.

This impiety of the victorious Greeks leads to punishment from the gods, the fleet unable to depart from the Trojan coast, tormented by an endless wind whose moans echoes the spirits of the dead Trojans. In this desert-like landscape wander the Trojan women, now slaves of their Greek conquerors and the soldiers, anxious to depart for home. Among the women is Briseis, once the ‘prize’ of Achilles, now married to his lieutenant, and carrying Achilles’ child. As a free Trojan, respected for her marriage, she visits the captive women offering them what help she can.

Barker’s novel is not what I imagined it might be: I had thought it a sort of retelling of Euripides’ play, The Trojan Women. Yes, the characters from that play all appear: Queen Hekabe, Priam’s widow, now the slave of Odysseus, but formidable still; Spartan Helen, reconciled to her husband Menelaus, hated by all; Cassandra, wed to Agamemnon, grimly satisfied with the future she alone foresees; Andromache, Hector’s widow, bereft of her child, now concubine of the brutal Pyrrhus. But the part played by these women is minor. The author places the unburied corpse of Priam at the centre, ropes in the plot of another ancient work, the Antigone of Sophocles, and makes Greek departure from the land of Troy contingent on the observation of moral decencies demanded of victors.

For me what made this a marvellous novel was the brilliant portrayal of Pyrrhus. He is Achilles’ son, so he is strong and powerful. But he is Achilles’ son, so he is insecure and feels inadequate in comparison to his father. He is a violent killer, but he can be surprisingly thoughtful and sensitive. His relationship with Briseis who carries Achilles’ unborn child is interesting and, if there is another novel to succeed this one, it will be fascinating to see how that relationship develops.

The novel is demonstrably of the same world as its predecessor, but its atmosphere of doom, of the dissatisfaction of victory, of the maltreatment of the conquered, of the perceived inadequacies of the men, especially Pyrrhus, of the longsuffering patience of the women, their desire for revenge, but also for peace, all these integrate into an immensely moving whole. Some may not like it as much as the first. But the first had Achilles. This one has his son. And the story is not over. There may be more to come.

A great sequel to Pat Barker’s ‘The Silence Of The Girls’. A wonderful look at the slightly-less famous parts of the Greek saga, which is touching and moving and funny in equal measure. A must read.

Loved this book. Don't know where the previous one finished but this opens with the Greek soldiers sitting inside the Trojan horse waiting to be pulled through the gates of Troy. No different to men sat inside a tank waiting for the battle: nervous, sweating and needing the loo! I know this story very well but this book really spends its time within the Greek camps in the aftermath of the war. Everyone is going stir crazy unable to set sail for home due to the wind. Only Cassandra really knows what awaits on her return with Agamemnon, but of course she is not believed. This focuses on the activity of the captured women, royal and otherwise and their place within the camps of the various kings. Thanks to Netgalley.

In this retelling of Greek mythology, we’re dropped straight into the action with Pyrrhus, Achilles’ son, sitting inside the Trojan horse with the other Greek soldiers, about to enter Troy and bring about the end of the war. The masculine world of action is then contrasted with the women in the camp, as we return to Briseis point of view, picking up where The Silence of the Girls left off. Briseis is pregnant with Achilles’ child and now married to Alcimus – no longer a slave but still powerless. The plight of the women and slaves in the Greek camp, the women who have accepted their fate and the ones quietly resisting, is subtle and fascinating.
Atmospheric and full of detail, Barker’s writing really brings the ancient world and the squalor of the army camps to life.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Silence of the Girls and loved this as well. Pat Barker is so good at portraying a world we can only imagine in such a way that it becomes completely real. This is the story of those who are forgotten in these epics - the women.

We’re straight back on the beaches at Troy for Barker’s second book in this series, rewriting the classic Homerian epic from the perspective of the lesser characters, particularly the women, who are all too often silent in these histories. The story opens at the nail-bitingly, viscerally cinematic pivot point of the ten-year Trojan War, where the wooden horse containing the Achaean fighters is wheeled inside the city’s gates. We’re given a glimpse of what really occurs at the death of Priam, the King of Troy, before the “exploits run from mouth to mouth and no doubt grew in the telling” – then returning to Agamemnon’s camp and the mind of Briseis, once a minor royal, now enslaved alongside the other women whose communities fell to these rampaging armies. She is pregnant, carrying the child of now-dead Achilles, and was swiftly married to his ally Lord Alcimus upon the warrior’s death, which has made her a free woman – saving her from a position stuck on the lowest possible rung of the ladder and giving her the ability to move around the camp, taking us with her as she goes. Despite victory, the Achaean forces are trapped on the beaches by the winds with no hope of returning home, and resentment building with every day that passes - yet with King Priam’s rotting body lying unburied, dishonoured on the dunes, will the Gods ever allow them to return home? Barker expertly balances the domestic with the divine, giving us more of her addictive, alternative accounts of historically-accepted versions of events. Although Troy’s siege is said to have happened over three thousand years ago, hearing Briseis’s innermost thoughts, fears and hopes make the events feel timeless - which is how you know this series deserves its inevitable status as a modern classic.

Featured in June’s Book Club in Cambridge Edition Magazine – thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy! https://online.bright-publishing.com/view/765983352/15/

I love Greek Mythology. Whether it comes in the form of an epic children's adventure like the Percy Jackon series, a teen angst fest like "Starcrossed" or something spellbinding like "Circe"...I am totally here for it. Pat Barker's "The Silence of the Girls" was one of my favourites of the many retellings I've read over the years. It was brutal yet beautiful and unsurprisingly so too is "The Women of Troy".

Told during the time after Troy had fallen, when the Greeks were prevented from sailing home in glory by angry, vengeful winds, we follow Briseis once again as she navigates a new set of trials and tribulations now that she's married to Alcimus and no longer a slave. Briseis is still our main narrator and it's her quiet resilience and support towards the women of the camp that I like most about this book. I also enjoyed the new glimpses into life after the war through Calchus and Pyrrhus's POV that offered a different flavor to the story.

Although I was never expecting or really even needing a sequel to "The Silence of the Girls" I have thoroughly enjoyed this installment and can't help but want another to follow Briseis now that they've left behind the shores of Troy.

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