By Title: A Thousand Ships
Author: Natalie Haynes
Publication Date: 2019
Publishing House: Harper Perennial
I’ve had this book for a while on my to read shelf and I finally read it. This is a retelling of the Trojan war from the point of view of the women.
Synopsis:
This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their turn . . .
This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .
In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.
From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women whose lives, loves, and rivalries were forever altered by this long and tragic war.
A woman’s epic, powerfully imbued with new life, A Thousand Ships puts the women, girls and goddesses at the center of the Western world’s great tale ever told.
This book is beautiful and heartbreaking and it needs to be read by more people. I have long loved retellings of Greek mythology, from Circe and Song of Achilles to Ariadne. A Thousand Ships along with the other books I mentioned tend to look at Greek myths through the lens of the women and/or they explore the depths of relationships that are only glossed over in the ancient records that have lasted to modern times. I say this because although Song of Achilles doesn’t have many female characters, the ones presented are more prominent than in the original texts. Along with the main relationship between the two main characters.
The author, Haynes, does not pull any punches with this book. Many of these women meet terrible ends. Their world come crashing down. Greek and Trojan women alike have their lives torn apart by war. Families murdered, the looser selected by kings as slaves, sacrificed to cruel gods and the memories of dead heroes.
One of the points of view that I find the most fascinating is that of the muse. She is willing to provide inspiration to the writer but it is for the story that she wants him to tell, not necessarily the one he expects. I suggest this book for those who enjoy Greek mythology, for those who enjoy different perspectives, and for those who are interested in seeing women take the power back however they can. Happy reading.
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