The Silence of the Girls
A Novel
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4.1 • 203 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Washington Post Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Economist, Financial Times
Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award
Finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction
Here is the story of the Iliad as we’ve never heard it before: in the words of Briseis, Trojan queen and captive of Achilles. Given only a few words in Homer’s epic and largely erased by history, she is nonetheless a pivotal figure in the Trojan War. In these pages she comes fully to life: wry, watchful, forging connections among her fellow female prisoners even as she is caught between Greece’s two most powerful warriors. Her story pulls back the veil on the thousands of women who lived behind the scenes of the Greek army camp—concubines, nurses, prostitutes, the women who lay out the dead—as gods and mortals spar, and as a legendary war hurtles toward its inevitable conclusion. Brilliantly written, filled with moments of terror and beauty, The Silence of the Girls gives voice to an extraordinary woman—and makes an ancient story new again.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The Trojan War gets a fierce feminist treatment in Pat Barker’s celebrated, spellbinding novel. When the terrifying and undeniably handsome Greek warrior Achilles comes for the city of Lyrnessus, Briseis—the city’s young queen—realizes that life as she knows it is over. Taken captive as Achilles’ prized concubine, Briseis desperately prays to the god Apollo for vengeance—and oh, does he answer! We were fascinated by all the ways the myth of this bloody war changes when the male-centered story of the Iliad is told from the perspective of the conflict’s traumatized but resilient enslaved women. If you love deconstructing history and mythology—or just want to be swept away by excellent storytelling—you’ll love The Silence of the Girls.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barker, author of the Booker-winning The Ghost Road, speculates about the fate of the women taken captive during the Trojan War, as related in Homer's Iliad. Briseis, queen of the small country of Lyrnessus, was captured by the Greek forces and awarded to Achilles, fated to serve him as slave and concubine. Through her eyes readers see the horror of war: the sea of blood and corpses, the looting, and the drunken aftermath of battle. When Agamemnon demands that Briseis be handed over to him, Achilles reacts with rage and refuses to fight, and when his foster brother and lover Patrocles is killed, having gone into battle in Achilles's stead, Briseis becomes the unwitting catalyst of a turning point in the war. In Barker's hands, the conflict takes on a new dimension, with revisionist portraits of Achilles ("we called him the butcher") and Patroclus (he had "taken his mother's place" in Achilles's heart). Despite its strong narrative line and transportive scenes of ancient life, however, this novel lacks the lyrical cadences and magical intensity of Madeline Miller's Circe, another recent revising of Greek mythology. The use of British contemporary slang in the dialogue is jarring, and detracts from the story's intensity. Yet this remains a suspenseful and moving illumination of women's fates in wartime.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful escape
Every night, I looked forward to jumping in bed to escape into the world of the Greek gods, as seen from the women”s perspective. Looking through this unique lens, I met the historical characters and discovered new heroism through the lives of women and slaves. Wished the book did not end.
Not very impressed
It was okay. Honestly it was mostly about Achilles, which I don’t mind. I wasn’t wowed. Sort of a poor explanation for the girls’ story. Nothing spectacular or moving, sadly.