The Silence of the Girls

Posted on 09 February 2018 by Pat Barker

From the Booker Prize winning author of the Regeneration trilogy comes a monumental new masterpiece, set in the midst of literature s most famous war Pat Barker turns her attention to the timeless legend of The Iliad , as experienced by the captured women living in the Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, who continue to wage bloody war over a stolen woman Helen In the Greek camp, another woman watches and waits for the war s outcome Briseis She was queen of one of Troy s neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece s greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers Briseis becomes Achilles s concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army When Agamemnon, the brutal political leader of the Greek forces, demands Briseis for himself, she finds herself caught between the two most powerful of the Greeks Achilles refuses to fight in protest, and the Greeks begin to lose ground to their Trojan opponents Keenly observant and cooly unflinching about the daily horrors of war, Briseis finds herself in an unprecedented position to observe the two men driving the Greek forces in what will become their final confrontation, deciding the fate, not only of Briseis s people, but also of the ancient world at large Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead all of them erased by history With breathtaking historical detail and luminous prose, Pat Barker brings the teeming world of the Greek camp to vivid life She offers nuanced, complex portraits of characters and stories familiar from mythology, which, seen from Briseis s perspective, are rife with newfound revelations Barker s latest builds on her decades long study of war and its impact on individual lives and it is nothing short of magnificent. New Download eBook The Silence of the Girls By Pat Barker – kino-fada.fr Based on Greek mythology, Homer s Iliad, and set during the final weeks of the Trojan War, this book brings a story of Briseis After Achilles, Greece s greatest warrior, conquers Troy s neighboring kingdom, he slaughters all men and captures all women among them the queen Briseis She becomes his concubine At the camp set under the walls of Troy where all captured women stay, Briseis meets Patr...I read this following both Emily Wilson s The Odyssey and Madeleine Miller s Circe so I m in ancient Greek heaven This is a small slice of the Odyssey story about Briseis, a queen that was a prize of war awarded to the great Achilles It s a fascinating take on the tale, one that is as gritty as it is beautiful, a book that lacks any sugar coating and is full of difficult relationships that seem true to the human spirit, both the good and bad In that, Barker is a true master, really bringing h I read this following both Emily Wilson s The Odyssey and Madeleine Miller s Circe so I m in ancient Greek heaven This is a small slice of the Odyssey story about Briseis, a queen that was a prize of war awarded to the great Achilles It s a fascinating take on the ...Review Coming August 31st at Layered PagesInteresting perspective on the end of the Trojan War I would have loved to seecharacter development I feel that I didn t really know the main characters Still, very interesting.

09 February 2018

Pat Barker