REVIEW: The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

Countless re-imaginings and appropriations have been written of Homer’s The Trojan War and The Odyssey, but few authors focus on the aftermath of Greece’s sacking of the once-great city of Troy.

Pat Barker

Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy picks off where her previous novel, The Silence of the Girls, left off. Our oft-forgotten narrator, Briseis is pregnant with Achilles’ child, Helen of Troy is once again Helen of Sparta, and now Hector’s widow, Andromache serves her deceased husband’s murderer. Somehow, even though I know how the story goes, I find myself thrown by the twists and turns and broken by the tragedies of these characters’ lives.

As the Greeks await a good wind to take them home, differing politics and burial rights threaten to spark a civil war. Briseis has found security in her marriage to Achilles’ friend, Alcimus and as a married woman, she uses her newfound ‘freedom’ to help other displaced Trojan women. Meanwhile, Helen has now found herself back in her former husband, Menelaus’ bed, much to the chagrin of the whole Greek army. The seer, Cassandra has also been claimed by Agamemnon, a fate she sees as a means to an end. The pain of every Trojan woman in this story is felt, carried and conveyed through a series of interactions with Briseis, who does her best to guide them towards survival. The novel shines with Briseis’ bluntness and her ever-practical nature. It is the unknown territory of this stasis in the Trojan War that makes it more unique than other retellings.

I began this book with the expectation that I’d get to read from Helen or Andromache’s point-of-view, but was pleasantly surprised when I was introduced to two new perspectives: Calchus, a priest with an agenda; and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, who struggles to live up to the legend that is his father. I liked his perspective because it felt unique to this story – how often do we see retellings of the Trojan War centring on Achilles’ thoughts? A lot. When have we ever read a POV on the son who never met his father? Probably never. Somehow Pyrrhus doesn’t detract from the women’s narrative (like I feared in the beginning); if anything he propels it forward. His actions and how many of the royal women’s lives become dependent on him – a teenage boy – are the driving force of this novel.

If you were a fan of the first book, I am as certain as Helen is beautiful that you will love the sequel. I was also delightfully reminded of Madeline Miller’s Circe now that Briseis has become more outspoken as a married woman. It is a provocative perspective with themes of female enslavement, survival and trauma, subtly explored through visceral prose. It’s the perfect read for historical and literary fiction buffs with a fancy for Greek epics.

—The Women of Troy by Pat Barker (Penguin Books Australia) is out on the 31st of August.

The Women of Troy

by Pat Barker

Troy has fallen and the Greek victors are primed to return home, loaded with spoils. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind does not come. The gods are offended - the body of Priam lies desecrated, unburied - and so the victors remain in uneasy limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed. The coalition that held them together begins to fray, as old feuds resurface and new suspicions fester.

Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, erstwhile queen Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can...

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