This book tells the story of the last year of the Trojan war from the point of view of Briseis. Former queen of Lyrnessos, turned slave to Achilles. It describes her life after being captured by the Greeks, who murdered her family and burned her city, in their war encampment. Although this isn’t the most exciting read ever (I found some chapters a bit slow-paced), it carries a very strong message. Which I guess was the purpose of this book. This powerful quote captures that perfectly:

“What will they make of us, the people of those unimaginably distant times? One thing I do know: they won’t want the brutal reality of conquest and slavery. They won’t want to be told about the massacres of men and boys , the enslavement of women and girls. They won’t want to know we were living in a rape camp. No, they’ll go for something altogether softer. A love story, perhaps? I just hope they manage to work out who the lovers were. His story. His, not mine.”

One thing is for certain: this book really puts the legends I was taught in my Ancient Greek lessons in school into perspective. As well as movie adaptations like ‘Troy’ (2004). Most of the time they praise Achilles’ strength, Odysseus’ wisdom or Helen’s beauty. Barker paints a detailed and raw picture that is probably closer to reality than any of those legends ever will be and gives those characters voices that are often never heard.