Author: marybeth

If you plan on reading this, it would be best to read Pat Barker’s previous novel, The Silence of the Girls, as it sets the stage for Women of Troy. Both novels are based on the epic of The Iliad, as seen from the captured Trojan women’s point of view. Women of Troy is heavy on characterization, and you need to know your Greeks and Trojans in order to keep everyone straight. Women begins with the arrival of the Trojan horse, and concentrates on Briseis, a former queen of a neighboring kingdom of Troy that was sacked by Achilles. Now his son Pyrrhus is the feared Greek warrior, who kills Priam, King of Troy, setting off a whole ethical debate. I had a hard time finishing this novel; it was a bit too heavy on characterization and focus on the terrible treatment of Trojan women by the Greeks during the war for my taste.

Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Ares, god of war, are on trial before her husband, Hephaestus, for being lovers. But Aphrodite accuses him of not knowing the meaning of love between gods, and illustrates with two stories of true love between mortals. Both stories involve soldiers of the Great war, WWI, and the heroic women with whom they fall in love. Julie Berry has weaved fact and fiction in this wonderful novel about love triumphing over all evils, especially war. I love reading historical novels for the lessons they impart about events we may know little about, and this one is stellar. Be prepared with a box of tissues, however — it’s a first class tear jerker.

The latest thriller by Lisa Jewell is definitely an enthralling read. A woman’s daughter and her boyfriend attend a party one evening and then simply vanish. Kim is beside herself with fear over what happened to Tallulah, her daughter and her boyfriend, Zach. A year has gone by when she meets Sophie, a writer living locally, who becomes intrigued with the case and lends a hand. The novel is told in flashbacks, varying perspectives between Kim, Tallulah and Sophie. I really enjoy Ms. Jewell’s writing, I highly recommend her latest novel.