Utterly flawless retelling of the 'realities' of the aftermath of war for Cassandra, Ritsa and Clytemnestra, once again placing the fate of women front and centre. Simply a masterpiece. Loved it.

Another masterful piece of storytelling from Pat Barker. This is the third title in the series and Ritsa seamlessly picks up the baton as narrator of this story.

Even though you know the ending of her mistress, Cassandra, and her lover, Agamemnon, this is a story which is so cleverly woven, that their deaths are still a surprise. I was totally captivated by Ritsa's voice and her dedication to her mistress in the face of all adversity. There are times when Ritsa could look after herself, but always looks to please her mistress.

The description of the various settings: ship, palace, and the triumphant return home by the warriors are all beautifully described and I was totally swept along by the drama of this narrative.

Don't miss reading this book - but do read the other two titles in the series first. Each is a standalone tale, but they are also interwoven - don't miss the full banquet of this collection.

The third and last in the trilogy, this book was a fitting ending to the epic tale of the Trojan War. The war is over, Troy has fallen, and Agamemnon is on his way home to the wife who has been plotting her revenge since he ordered the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia 10 years earlier. These tales have been told and retold innumerable times over the centuries, and continue to fascinate us even though we know that the characters cannot escape their fate. Pat Barker is yet again on top form here.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

Review time:

The previous two books in this series followed Brieses during the Trojan war, telling the events from the perspective of the Trojan women who were taken as prizes by the Grecian army and forced into slavery after watching the horrors of watching their friends and family brutally murdered (these books did not shy away from showing the monstrousness and brutal killing of children either.) I loved the first two and the exploration of both sides of the story.

The voyage home changes to the perspectives of Cassandra, Clytemnestra and Ritsa with a sprinkling of third person depicting the actions of the men. Whilst I enjoyed this book as much as the others there were moments that took me out of it like the use of the ‘orange and lemons’ song to create horror in a book based in Ancient Greece. It was interesting getting Ritsa’s perspective as it showed a human side of how people would react to Cassandra’s prophecies. Clytemnestra in a few ways felt diminished in this book which made the moment she took back her power all the more chef’s kiss.

Book three of the Women of Troy trilogy
It deals with the journey home after the Greek victory against the Trojans
It focuses on the perspective of three female characters - Cassandra, a high priestess of Apollo and King Priam’s daughter and her slave maid Ritsa who are taken away from Troy by the victorious Greeks as King Agamemnon’s concubine and Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife and grieving mother of Iphigenia
I loved the rich writing style, capturing Greek mythology in an easy accessible way, especially the forgotten women, their anger, resentment, betrayal and grief
All are powerless in their own way, who together, come to take revenge on the horrors inflicted on them - the powerless will have their revenge
Non-one’s actions are excused and no-one is totally blameless, especially Agamemnon - he has won the war but at what cost
“You can’t cherry-pick a prophecy. It’s fulfilled in it’s entirety or not at all”
Thanks #patbarker @penguinukbooks & @netgalley for the powerful read

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Penguin/Viking for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: rape, abuse, slavery, sexual assault, death, grief, murder, child death, PTSD

The third part of Pat Barker’s incredible retelling of the Iliad from the perspective of the women of Troy, ‘The Voyage Home’ continues where the second book left off with a new narrator group of narrators: Cassandra, Ritsa and Clytemnestra. Troy has been destroyed, many of the heroes are dead and the Greeks are sailing home with slaves and riches. This time it focuses on Cassandra, the Trojan princess and prophet who is cursed never to be believed, and Cassandra’s new maid Ritsa, the healer taken as a slave in the first two books. Cassandra has been taken as a bed slave by Agamemnon, knowing that their return to Mycenae will lead to their deaths. At the same time Clytemnestra, who has waited a decade for Agamemnon to return home, vows to avenge the daughter he murdered in exchange for a fair wind before the war. Brought together by inevitable fate and bloodshed over two countries and a decade of war, Ritsa is trapped in the story of the cursed palace of Mycenae as Clytemnestra seeks to destroy her husband- and by association, Cassandra as well.

This volume is more of a standalone but as beautifully tragic as the other two books. It tells the stories of women who rarely get a line in other texts. Pat Barker mixes modern language and the ancient world together so smoothly, her versions of the characters from Greek mythology are traumatised, morally grey, and often deeply awful. I’ve always loved the story of Clytemnestra and here I found a version of her that is so angry, violently grieving and determined for revenge as Agamemnon returns home. The depiction of Agamemnon as haunted by the ghost of Iphigenia was so well written. The scenes where Clytemnestra lures him into the palace and the bath were my favourites, they’re such famous moments and I loved the level of tension and atmosphere that built up the second he stepped into the palace. Cassandra, seen by Ritsa as simply insane rather than divinely blessed, knows that her fate will match Agamemnon’s and marches loudly to her death without being believed; I found her moving and powerful in the moments we spent in her perspective. I loved how we got to meet Agamemnon’s surviving children, Orestes and Electra, and I so hope there’s another book featuring them and the rest of the story shown in the ‘Oresteia’ because I know Pat Barker would write it with incredible depth and the starkness of the other books.

Another excellent episode of Pat Barker's trilogy. Still as fresh and immediate as the first two parts, although a little more subdued and restrained. The pace is still fairly brisk, leading to the inevitable prediction of Cassandra, and this casts a shadow across the whole book. However, the characters are well drawn and credible and carry the plot to its conclusion. Not sure whether Ritsa can manage another adventure or two, but I'd love another novel in this series. Highly enjoyable!

As always with Pat Baker books, this was a much needed tale from the female perspective. The tense journey to her new “home” for Cassandra, alongside her maid, to meet the fate of Clytemnestra, full of revenge. The descriptions are always so vivid in these books, I felt like I was in that dingy cabin on the ship! One to recommend for all the mythology lovers out there!

I did not find this as engaging as the first two novels in this series. It did pick up towards the end, when they started to plot against Agamemnon, but for me, it lacked something.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I'm not sure whether it's because I have recently read an excellent retelling of this same story (Elektra by Jennifer Saint) or if I find the character of Cassandra frustrating as a lead, but I didn't connect with this in the same way as Barker's previous two Troy novels. Having a non-royal woman tell the majority of the story was a good technique to allow the reader to identify more with the story, and it does allow a more grounded exploration of what life might have been like for a normal Trojan woman taken by the Greeks. I liked Ritsa and was glad she got a (sort-of) happy ending. But there was something about this novel that did fall flat for me, which is a little disappointing after the first two were so good.

Pat Barker’s The Voyage Home delivers a masterful and emotionally resonant third instalment to her Trojan War trilogy, cementing her place as one of the most powerful voices in contemporary historical fiction. This brilliant novel offers a gritty, nuanced portrayal of the aftermath of war, focusing on the psychological toll it takes on its survivors—both victors and vanquished. It’s an unforgettable exploration of grief, trauma, and the quest for redemption, all told through Barker’s trademark blend of raw emotional depth and rich historical detail.

The Voyage Home picks up after the fall of Troy, the story centres on Cassandra, daughter of King Priam and the tragic Trojan prophetess doomed to foresee the future but never be believed. Barker masterfully intertwines myth, history, and the timeless complexities of trauma and survival in this gripping narrative.

As the Greek fleet sets sail from the ruins of Troy, Cassandra and the remaining Trojan women are taken as spoils of war, bound for a dark and uncertain future in Mycenae. Barker’s portrayal of Cassandra is one of the novel’s greatest strengths—she is fierce, complex, and irrevocably scarred by the weight of her prophecies and the horrors she has endured. Her refusal to submit to the gods, particularly Apollo, who cursed her after she spurned him, marks her as one of Barker’s most compelling heroines. Cassandra’s psychological depth elevates her from a figure of myth into a vividly human character, struggling not only with the pain of her past but also with the knowledge of the bloody events that await her in Mycenae.

What makes The Voyage Home truly remarkable is Barker’s ability to give voice to those who have been traditionally silenced in ancient epics. Much like in The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy, the female characters take centre stage, offering a different perspective on the epic journey.

Barker’s writing is, as always, stunning. Her prose is spare but impactful, allowing the emotional and psychological complexity of her characters to come to the forefront. She deftly balances the epic scope of the narrative with intimate, character-driven moments, creating a story that is both grand in its themes and deeply personal in its execution. The pacing is measured, allowing readers to fully immerse themselves in the haunting beauty of Barker’s world, and the tension builds steadily towards a cathartic and bittersweet finale.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is its refusal to offer easy answers or heroic resolutions. Instead, Barker paints a picture of war’s aftermath that is messy, unresolved, and deeply human. The journey home is not just a physical one; it’s an emotional reckoning for everyone involved, and Barker captures this with breathtaking clarity and compassion.

The Voyage Home is a powerful, thought-provoking addition to Barker’s epic series, offering a fresh and unflinching look at one of the most famous stories in Western literature. It’s a novel that challenges the glorified narratives of war and heroism, and instead asks us to confront the human cost of violence, loss, and survival. For readers who have followed the trilogy from the beginning, this third instalment is both a heart-wrenching and deeply satisfying end to the journey, if indeed, it is in fact an end

Pat Barker has once again proven that she is a master storyteller, capable of breathing new life into ancient myths while making them resonate with contemporary readers. The Voyage Home is a must-read for fans of historical fiction and anyone looking for a richly layered, emotionally complex story about the enduring impact of war.

Excellent third part in the “Women of Troy” series (I think a trilogy, but more could yet follow); this time centred on the slave Ritsa (powerfully told in the first person), Cassandra and Clytemnestra, waiting at home for the husband who sacrificed their oldest daughter.
Barker’s immediacy in retelling the classics remains the high point in modern reworking of the classics from the women’s perspective - bringing simple clarity and an inevitable sense of propulsion. Highly highly recommended.

As Troy falls, the woman are facing new tribulations. Raped, enslaved and abused their former status is nothing now. For Cassandra, she is now the property of Agamemnon, not willing but trying to survive. Meanwhile Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, awaits his return with vengeance on her mind.
Barker is a wonderful writer of fiction and her latest series of books about the Trojan Wars have been materful, this is no exception.

Three women, all slaves in their own way.
This is told from three perspectives: Rista, once healer, now Cassandra’s maid and a slave. Cassandra, royal at birth and the high priestess of Apollo, and now Agamemnon's war bride. Finally, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife at home who is grieving her daughter sacrificed so the Greeks could sail to Troy.

<b>’But isn't that the point? Who decides who's a monster?'
"The winner.'
</b>
Ritsa’s chapters are the only ones told in first person which creates a sense of intimacy and makes this more poignant and instant.

Through others’ eyes, and with insights of her own chapters, we see Cassandra has learned long since to disguise her doubts and fears — if she had any. This makes her appear aloof, careless, and yet the glimpses into her insecurities makes her humane and her proclaimed madness seems apt.

Clytemnestra is supposed to be evil. The deviant wife. Yet, her grief and rage has a firm basis and her capacity for revenge is shown to reinforce a cycle of violence.

What might not appeal to some readers is the modernity of this retelling. It uses language more suited to 21st century dialect.
Example:
<b>’Agamemnon's just like you?' I said.
"Why, aye, you could have a drink with him, bit of a laugh...'
Best mates with Agamemnon. Oh my god.</b>

Do not go in expecting the Iliad.
This is a retelling in a more accessible voice, giving voice to the silenced and oppressed.

This is relatable, relevant, and definitely a step up from her two previous books!

<b>’He had no choice. The gods required it.'
Cassandra laughed. 'The gods must have broad backs, don't you think? Anything anybody does gets blamed on them.'</b>

Thank you to Penguin Books for providing me a physical arc in exchange for a review!

Pat Barker’s retellings of the story of the Trojan Wars are the most compelling version of Homer’s Iliad I’ve ever read. The first two volumes of the trilogy – The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy – gave the women’s perspectives on the abject horror of war. In the third volume, The Voyage Home, the decade-long conflict is over and victorious Agamemnon is sailing back to Greece, where his wife Clytemnestra waits for him. His spoils of war include the priestess Cassandra, daughter of King Priam, whom Apollo has condemned to tell prophesies that are true but not believed, and whom Agamemnon has secretly married, and then there is Ritsa, Cassandra’s servant woman. She is a survivor, but she is far from home, and perhaps her quick wits and instinct for self-preservation have carried her as far as they can. That’s the set-up, and you don’t need to be clairvoyant to work out it’s not going to end well, but this deeply dysfunctional family drama is vividly drawn and exceptionally well told. It with brims pain and hatred, and you are skewered by the believability, the absolute intensity, of the emotions.

This is the third book in Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy trilogy. I loved the first two books, The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy both of which are based on Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid, so I was very keen to read The Voyage Home. I wasn’t disappointed but it is slightly different in that this third book is loosely based on the first part of Aeschylus’s Oresteia. The first two books are narrated by Briseis, who had been given to Achilles as a war prize, whereas Ritsa, a fictional character, replaces her as the narrator in the third book, which took me by surprise. I had been anticipating it would be Briseis again.

At the end of the Trojan War the Greeks and their prisoners eventually set sail for home. For King Agamemnon that is Mycenae, where Clytemnestra, his wife is waiting for him. But she is plotting his murder to avenge his sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia to appease the Gods and gain a fair wind to sail to Troy. After ten years she is still full of grief and rage, her determination to kill Agamemnon is stronger than ever.

Also in the same boat are the captured Trojan women including Cassandra, a princess of Troy, a daughter of Priam and Helen’s half sister. All I knew of her before is that she was a prophetess, whose prophecies were never believed. She’s a strong, beautiful woman but a very fragile character, often ranting and raving. She is demented, and manic, who Ritsa says is ‘as mad as a box of snakes’. Ritsa, her slave calls herself Cassandra’s ‘catch fart’.

The first part of the book covers their voyage to Mycenae and the second part is about what happened when they arrived. Barker doesn’t pull her punches. This is a well written, brutal, bloody tale of revenge told in a modern, colloquial style, and full of grim detail of horror and squalor. Most of the characters are unlikable, with the exception of Ritsa. I think the best book of the trilogy is The Silence of the Girls, but I did enjoy The Voyage Home.

My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin, the publishers for the ARC.

This was such an excellent ending to this trilogy - I raced through it and it has made me appreciate the overall arc of these books so much.

Pat Barker has put Trojan women at the centre of her retelling of the ancient war on Troy. In this final installment we see the pain and horror these women experience as they are forcibly taken across the ocean as slaves. Their lives are irrevocably changed and through careful reflections on how different people react to this, the book explores pain, sadness and grief but also hope, friendship, survival and what it means to be free.

Cassandra absolutely shines through this book and that is such a beautiful surprise - I don't think I've ever read such a nuanced or sympathetic version of her. I certainly haven't read one where she felt like a real human woman and not an archetype before.

Loved it, I would just say it packs it's punch as part of this series. As much as Silence of the Girls felt like the start of a trauma and Women of Troy felt distinctly like a middle book showing the reader the longevity if the trauma, this book feels like the third act wherein the women start to try to figure out how to move and live around the trauma. It doesn't stand on its own the same way because it wasn't written to do so.

In The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker gave women, who up until now were mostly ‘silenced’ with regards to the story of the Trojan War, a voice. She continued the story in book 2, The Women of Troy. Three years later Pat presents book 3 - The Voyage Home. The issue I have is - six years on from reviewing book 1 - that the book market is saturated with Greek tragedies and I did not find this book as engaging as the preceding two. It had its moments, but overall it just fell flat for me in comparison to the previous two and when compared to similar retellings of these particular characters by other authors.

This trilogy of books truly was the story that needed to be told, the women who were at the very heart of this iconic tale - whether vanquished or victorious - it finally gave them a voice.

One thing I love about Pat Barker's books is that she strikes the perfect balance between writing beautifully and empathically about Greek myths while never shying away from the horror and the violence that comes with the territory. With Greek mythology becoming more and more of a trend, I love to see authors who continue to represent it without rose-tinted glasses, but without also condemning the genre.
Admittedly I haven't had the chance to read The Women of Troy and I only got to read half of The Silence of the Girls (which got ruined by seawater when I was on holiday and is a whole other thing!) so maybe I lack some context and if I were to reread The Voyage home as the third in a trilogy I would be able to connect with it differently. But even so, I thoroughly enjoyed this. This is the story of three women, each a prisoner in her own right, and their rage and anguish, existing amidst a world of heroes and men and their savagery, and it's incredibly beautifully written. I will never not love these kinds of stories.

I read the author's previous books and loved them, I think I finished them in a couple of days. So I was very excited when I got approved for her latest one. However, unfortunately it didn't do it for me. I didn't find the story as compelling as the previous ones and struggled to finish it. It sounded interesting but there wasn't much too it. Such a shame...