I think the majority of people will have a certain image of Achilles in their heads thanks to the portrayal of his persona as a great warrior and handsome hero in major blockbuster movies. According to Greek mythology, Achilles was the son of the mortal Peleus, king of the Myrmidons, and the immortal Nereid Thetis. She is a sea nymph, a goddess of water and also purported to be one of fifty Nereids, the daughters of the ancient sea god Nereus.

The latter is especially important during this story, because Achilles’ obsession with his mother has a direct influence on the way he interacts with women, in this case Briseis. The initial attraction is caused by memories evoked by the smell of the sea on Briseis, which reminds him of the mother who abandoned him. He returns to the sea over and over again to connect with the feeling of love and protection he misses so much. Achilles becomes the young boy who yearns for the arms of his mother. Of course in relation to Briseis and memories of his mother we are talking Oedipal complex.

The Greeks are fighting to get Helen back, the infamous Helen of Troy. This story is focused on the lives of the women in the camp of the Greeks during this conflict. Women and girls who are bounty from other conflicts and sieges. Any male above a certain age is considered a future threat and therefore annihilated.

It doesn’t matter which status the women had before, they are all in the same boat when they are taken prisoner. Saying that, there is still a hierarchy with the worst position being the women no man of importance has any interest in. They are given to the soldiers as camp whores. The others are just whores by a different name. Although sometimes a woman might rise to the position of wife, it tends to be a rarity. The reality is that these women are treated like voiceless scum.

Barker combines mythology, history and women’s fiction, the result is a beautiful bold and heart-wrenching piece of literature. It is the gift that keeps on giving. It speaks of the unheard voices and the imposed silence girls have always had to live with. Even the alleged hero, winner of hearts and ruler of warriors is but a man at the end of the day. A man who treats women with disdain.

There have been lots of feminist re-writings of the Greek Classics and myths in recent years. Some have been pretty uninspired but this one is great. When you see a book by Pat Barker you know you’re in for an excellently well-written story, so you can relax immediately. The descriptions of the camp were extremely evocative and the depiction of Achilles fresh and very interesting. I absolutely loved it. If you’ve enjoyed Emily Hauser or Madeleine Millar, you’ll absolutely adore this.

This book is just brilliant! 'The Iliad' is retold by the women like the teenage Briseis who survive in slavery when men destroy their cities and kill their fathers, brothers and children. She is awarded to Achilles, after his army sacks one of the towns neighbouring Troy. This book is a tribute to the raped, enslaved, widowed women, who watch their city burn and and hope for a moment to bury their slaughtered children and grandchildren before they are taken far away.

I’m probably making ‘The Silence of the Girls’ sound more depressing than it is. While deeply sad, this book is also about the triumph of hope over adversity. I was surprised it didn’t win the Costa Prize as I thought it was superior to Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People.’

This is a stunning reimagining of a classic tale that puts women in the driving seat - where they always should have been! The prose is wonderfully lyrical and I can't wait to see what this author does next!

If you are a fan of Greek myths/literature, this retelling is one to read. Told mostly in the view point of Breises, she narrates her life and the lives of women as captured slaves during the battle of Troy. I’ve never had a proper Greek literature or classics discussion where you dissect the outer realms of what was presented in the source material. Retelling a classic in the view point of a somewhat prominent woman in the scene allows us to see those stories that were ignored, the voices that were unheard. It leads to question how women were generally treated during the time these were written - we discuss philosophers and theories and discoveries made by men during that time, but where were the women? Even in literature women are presented to be meek and beautiful, a sculpture to be admired - but what happens to them when all these wars are happening? There is an innate reaction for people to hide women and children, but none of us really know what happens after the war has passed. We follow the men and their triumphs and losses, women are immediately written out.

I liked the writing style though it does tend to shift from a first to third person view at times. There is a significant growth in the character as the narration goes by - at the end of it, the voice has certainly matured.

I love myth and mythology and even though I don't like the retelling stories, this one came out amazing,

I'm not normally a fan of these sort of retellings, but the description left me with no choice but to request it.
I'm so glad I did; this is a well written, enchanting and chilling story that I just had to get to the end of.

I wasn't sure I wanted to read this, but when I did pick it up I was very quickly swept up in the story of Briseis, a young captured slave who is awarded to Achilles during the Trojan wars. I know very little about the Trojan wars, but Barker is busy with the lives of the captured women, from their precarious associations to jobs in the camp, from medicine to weaving. The long term interweaving of lives comes through strongly too, from women asked to adapt or die. I felt for Briseis in her dilemmas, and was carried through a blood soaked story willing her to survive.

I read the Regeneration trilogy a long time ago, but I think Barker manages the same thing here, the pity of war.

I've tried a few times to get into this book but it just doesn't grab me. I think it's the prose, it's very flat and utilitarian - more like a Facebook post than a literary novel. Perhaps this is supposed to give the story immediacy but I can't get a sense of the place or the period or the people. DNF

I expected to love this - I'm aware of Barker's reputation and am interested in reworkings of the Iliad - but unfortunately found it fairly pedestrian on the whole. I can see why she chose to use British WW2 slang and occasional Northern dialect to make dynamics in the ancient world clearer to a modern reader, but the fact remains that the women of Troy weren't from Manchester, and the story loses some of its strangeness and specificity by being amalgamated to feel this British while still being cluttered with amphorae and so on. I also thought that Barker's handling and dismissal of the queerness inherent in the Achilles/Patrokles relationship was somewhat mealy-mouthed. Nevertheless, her Briseis is earthy and convincing, and her clear-eyed, bleak depiction of the way women suffer during wartime and at the hands of men generally powerful.

At this point, I’ve read quite a few different retellings of the Battle of Troy - Helen of Troy, Starcrossed, Song of Achilles, to name a few - and if I’m being honest, the story becomes old. So I was quite excited when I heard about The Silence of the Girls - a retelling that focuses on the unheard voices. I’m not sure what I expected exactly - maybe the story to be told from the multiple points of view of different women? - but what I got was essentially the story of Achilles and Patroclus told - mostly - from a slaves perspective. And when I say mostly, I mean that we also got the point of view of Achilles - and while that would be interesting in any other retelling of this battle, I was really excited to just hear the unique perspectives of multiple women. I got Briseis and Achilles and I think a little bit of Patroclus and I wanted more dammit! So I think my disappointed in this read mostly stems from my expectations being a lot higher than what was delivered. Overall, it’s a good retelling of Helen of Troy, but doesn’t have anything of particular note.

A beautiful, challenging, moving take on a well known story. I had got a bit tired of 'classical re-writes' but this re-energised the genre for me with its fresh and modern storytelling. Have been buying copies for friends and family ever since I read it! One of my 2018 books of the year.

This was a really interesting take on a famous myth, presenting it from the female perspective and giving an insight into how women were treated at the time, and how little they counted except as possessions to show the power of the men they belonged to. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but found it hard going at times as I didn't always find it gripped me.

Briseis is a strong woman (there is a Wiki page for Briseis if you’re interested in the background). I’m not sure I would have handled everything quite as well as she does! The sights that she sees and the experiences that she has in the army camp are a long, long way from wearing a veil and being kept inside the palace because no-one could look on her. Despite making friends with some of the other women who were captured, life is full of fear and the unknown … and of course the women are powerless. Life with Agamemnon is very different from that with Achilles. She says:

“So we spent the nights curled up like spiders at the centre of our webs. Only we weren’t the spiders, we were the flies.”

A perfect description!

The complex relationship between Achilles and Patroclus drew me in. I thought this was portrayed really well. I felt very emotional when Patroclus was brought back to Achilles camp. His is the only male humility and humanity we see in this legend.

The reality of the war, treating injuries and life in the camp are brutal. It was so easy to believe myself taking part in this life. I feel honoured to have had this experience. The uniqueness of seeing this war through the narration of Queen Briseis gives a new perspective and although hard-hitting, one which I enjoyed.

Fantastic.
Was torn between reading on to find out what happened and wanting to savour the story. A retake on a familiar story from the eyes of a slave taken before the fall of Troy. Worth the read

Pat Barker is a master at simple descriptions which say everything you need to fire the imagination and see the worst of humanity in your mind's eye. She did it to deserved acclaim with the Regeneration trilogy and she's done it again with 'The Silence of the Girls'.

And they are girls, almost all; reduced to pieces of meat and awarded as prizes to the conquering 'heroes'.

I found myself very quickly absorbed into the world of Briseis and her fate. Frustrating and at times, heart-pounding, the reader experiences her small victories and her great losses along with her and they keep coming. When you think things cannot get any worse, of course they do.

For me, the overriding feeling was one of fear. The women can never relax, never be at peace, as they never knew what the next moment would bring.

Agreeing with others, there is a section, heavy with emotion, towards the end of the book, that is somewhat distractingly, all told from Achilles' perspective, when the majority of the narrative has been how Briseis has perceived him and his domain. It does give an intense humanity to the character but I would say Briseis' sharp observations had been doing a very good job of this already and somehow the situation could have been manipulated to continue using her as the purveyor.

This does not take away from the fact, it is a wonderful piece of storytelling - commendable in its accessibility and believability. I can still feel the sand and smell the sea-rot. And don't get me started on the rats...

When the Greeks sack her home, Briseis is taken as a captive to the Greek camp outside of Troy and chosen to become Achilles’ concubine – a prize of battle. She must quickly adjust from her life as a queen to that of a slave, serving the enemy. As the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans wages on, Briseis finds herself caught between two of the most powerful Greeks, and in an unprecedented position to observe the two men driving the Greek forces in what will become their final confrontation.

The Silence of the Girls is a re-telling of Homer’s The Iliad, told from the point of view of a woman, held captive in the Greek camp. It essentially tells the stories of the women and girls who were unwilling participants and collateral damage in the Trojan War. It’s a really interesting point of view to read from and Briseis was a fantastic narrator, but the main character of the book was really Achilles rather than Briseis, which was a tiny bit disappointing.

The story itself was not actually the most exciting. Despite there being a war (with a good amount of gory, bloody detail), the plot was not particularly action-packed or eventful. However, it was excellently written and I was completely addicted. The characters were very strong, likeable and well-developed – even Agamemnon, who plays the ‘villain’ role. The author does an outstanding job of balancing the ‘good vs. bad’ aspect of the plot, with Briseis being surrounded by her enemies and still managing to forge friendships with them, whilst remaining loyal to her people. Although the Greeks are clearly presented as the enemy, they are not made out to be negative characters and they have likeable and individual personalities.

Some of the content is pretty horrific: the women are captured, raped and brutalised. It is not pleasant to read, but these aspects are not overly visual and are, unfortunately, an unavoidable feature of Ancient Greek fiction. To take this content out of the story would be a misrepresentation of the time.

I love Greek mythology in general, and The Silence of the Girls exceeded my expectations. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I personally found the book a bit long. Although it was well written I felt something was missing and it prevented me from getting gripped by the book. A good read but not the best for me.

The Silence of the Girls is a vivid retelling of Homer’s Iliad. However, this time the focus is on the minor characters, namely the women taken as ‘spoils of war’. Queen Briseis is taken as a sex slave by Achilles when he destroys her city. Through Briseis we hear of the other female slaves in the encampment – women who are forced to serve the men that killed their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.

My initial impression of this latest retelling of the fall of Troy from Greek mythology was along the lines of 'why bother?' However, the story-telling skill of Pat Barker quickly dispelled this grumpy question. Ms Barker shows a quite remarkable ability to weave the bare bones of the Troy fable into a living, breathing - and, yes, at times, gory - tale of real people caught up in the remorseless, grinding horror of warfare at its most savage and heart breaking. The author's chosen perspective is unusual, for the most part being the first person account of a Trojan noblewoman captured and - as was usual in such cases - made to serve as slave, in her case to the Greek warrior Achilles. Her journey from a senior member of the royal household to slave passed around from Achilles to Agamemnon and the indignities she was made to endure is well-described and captures the eternal plight of women caught up in warfare right up to the present day. This could have been a dry tale which would have tested the reader's endurance; instead it was a richly drawn and beautifully fluent reimagining of life in the turbulent days as the death of Achilles and the sacking of Troy draw near. Strongly recommended.