Thank you so much to Penguin for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (Ad-Gifted).
Goodreads Synopsis
Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home victors, loaded with their spoils: their stolen gold, stolen weapons, stolen women. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails.
But the wind does not come. The gods have been offended - the body of Priam lies desecrated, unburied - and so the victors remain in limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed, pacing at the edge of an unobliging sea. And, in these empty, restless days, the hierarchies that held them together begin to fray, old feuds resurface and new suspicions fester.
Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can - with young, dangerously naïve Amina, with defiant, aged Hecuba, with Calchus, the disgraced priest - and begins to see the path to a kind of revenge. Briseis has survived the Trojan War, but peacetime may turn out to be even more dangerous...
Review
The Women of Troy picks up from where The Silence of Girls ends and I was excited to dive back into this story told mostly from Briseis' perspective who is now balancing her new role of being the wife of Alcimus whilst carrying the child of Achilles.
This book is about the aftermath of the war and something I haven't come across in my recent devouring of Greek Mythology retellings. It was an interesting concept and I loved seeing how much Briseis developed from the first book and how compassionate and understanding she is towards the Trojan women as she helps them deal with their trauma.
I love Pat Barker's writing and quickly found myself wrapped up in this retelling. Whilst I wasn't a huge fan of including another perspective in The Silence of the Girls, I felt like having the perspectives of a couple of characters in this book helped move the story along and at times were needed.
Whilst I enjoyed this story, I do find myself preferring The Silence of the Girls. I'm intrigued to see if Pat Barker will continue to tell this story. If she does I know I'll be picking it up! I really recommend reading The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy if you love Greek Mythology retellings.
Rating: 4/5 stars