Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

Posted December 2, 2020 by Stephanie in can't-wait wednesday / 21 Comments

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and talk about the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read.
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
Expected publication: June 29th 2021 by Doubleday Books

From the Booker Prize-winning Pat Barker, author of The Silence of the Girls (“An important, powerful, memorable book” –Emily Wilson, translator of The Odyssey), a retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women who endured it

Troy has fallen and the victorious Greeks are eager to return home with the spoils of an endless war–including the women of Troy themselves. They await a fair wind for the Aegean.

It does not come, because the gods are offended. The body of King Priam lies unburied and desecrated, and so the victors remain in suspension, camped in the shadows of the city they destroyed as the coalition that held them together begins to unravel. Old feuds resurface and new suspicions and rivalries begin to fester.

Largely unnoticed by her captors, the one-time Trojan queen Briseis, formerly Achilles’ mistress, now belonging to his companion Alcimus, quietly takes in these developments. She forges alliances when she can, with Priam’s aged wife the defiant Hecuba and with the disgraced soothsayer Calchas, all the while shrewdly seeking her path to revenge.

 

I absolutely loved The Silence of the Girls that I read last year. The Women of Troy is a sequel to that (although I think it can probably be read as a standalone). TSotG is one of my top favorite Trojan War and Greek mythology retellings so I’m extremely excited for this new upcoming book from Pat Barker. And also the cover is really beautiful! 2021 releases will break my bank account.

21 responses to “Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Women of Troy by Pat Barker

  1. Interesting pick! Always wanted to know what happened “after” the war. I think I remember Briseis from the movie Troy? I had never given any thought to her after Achilles dying, so this caught my eye. And speaking of Achilles, have you read Song of Achilles by Miller? Does that book also speak of Briseis?

    • In The Odyssey you can find out some things that happened after the war but of course it mostly focuses on Odysseus so it’s not a lot. And yes I’ve read The Song of Achilles (and cried with it ?). Briseis is also a character in it, yes.

  2. I really want to read The Silence of the Girls after having read Miller’s The Song of Achilles and then hearing so much about Barker’s book. The Women of Troy sounds really good too! I hope you enjoy it when you read it!

  3. Oh my days I did NOT know there was going to be a sequel for this book! I really appreciated and enjoyed the silence of the girls a few months ago so I will definitely be reading this. Personally I think it worked best as a standalone and wouldn’t have wanted anymore… but of course I am going to still read it anyway out of curiousity :’)

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