Book review
This book is the follow on to the Silence of Girls, a highly original book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I probably should have reread the Silence of Girls first before reading this one to pick up the details, as this book very much follows on from the previous book. However, I remembered enough to be immediately drawn into the book. Now Achilles is dead, Briseis must take up her new role in the camp as the mother of Achilles’ child she is carrying and the wife of Alcimus. Briseis takes on a leadership/caring role for the women of Troy now captured following the siege of Troy, for example, she supports Andromache who like her was gifted to a victorious general, her is Pyrrhus, Achilles’ 14 year old son. Helen is now returned to the camp – gifted to her former lover Menelaus.
In this second novel, Briseis develops into a leader, and the other strong Women of Troy are given more of a voice. Her observations on the men around her are on point. Briseis seems strong, responsible but no longer rebellious or idealistic. She is prepared to take some risks to support the women in the camp, but there are limits. The novel is mainly narrated by Briseis, but occasionally Pyrrhus is given a voice. I am intrigued as to why the author did this. It adds a perspective (particularly from inside the Trojan Horse), but seems somewhat out of keeping of the novel as the story of the women of that time, told by the women. It might have been interesting to give a voice to another of the women.
As in the previous book Pat Barker brilliantly evokes the sense of the noise of the camp, the atmosphere of male boorishness. The depictions of the wind and waves create an oppressive sense of the camp being walled in my nature. Although Briseis is pregnant with Achilles’ child throughout the novel, she does not seem to reflect very much on what the pregnancy and impending motherhood mean to her – it seems to be merely a fact about her that earns her respect and some freedoms. I am suspecting, and hoping, that her role as a mother will be the subject of the next in the series.
- Goodreads rating – 3.85
- REVIEW – Gaenor Bagley