The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Title: The Silence of the Girls

Author: Pat Barker

Genre: Historical Fiction

Other books I've read by this author: The Women of Troy

Synopsis: 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. - Back Cover

My Thoughts

After reading the sequel to this novel first, while it stood alone just fine, it was so nice to have more context and backstory for the characters. This novel felt even heavier than the first and I'm taking a break from this trilogy for some lighter books. I look forward to reading the final book in the series when I'm ready for something a little intense again.

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