The Silencing of the Girls
In this book, we see the Trojan War from the perspective of a war slave Briseis. She is in the camp waiting for the war to end. She ended up there when Achilles invaded her kingdom and killed her family, becoming his price of battle and one of the many women who served the Greek army. The story we all now unfolds living the daily horrors of war while being erased in history.
Everybody knows Achilles, he was a great hero, but this book encourages you to look at a new perspective. The Trojan war is always presented from the warriors' point of view ignoring half of the population present in that era. Besides, this doesn't just show women’s place at the time, but her perspective while being enslaved. It is full of historical details portraying complex characters and stories.
A Thousand Ships
Similar to the silencing of girls, this retelling of the Trojan War focuses on the women at the time. However, it doesn't focus on one woman; instead, it follows the Trojans, the Amazon princess that fought Achilles, Penelope waiting for Odysseus, and some goddesses. We also get to see how their stories intertwine and how their lives change because of this conflict.
This book is a must-read. History was always told by men from men’s perspective, so it is important to open our minds to this side we never knew. Women didn’t fight in the war, but they suffered the consequences just the same, and this is what this story aims to portray. And from multiple perspectives it does just that, it didn’t matter whether you were close to the battlefield or not, all women suffered in those times. Moreover, the style of narration is just ~immaculate~.
The Penelopiad
In this book, we follow Penelope, Odysseus' wife and Helen's cousin, through the Trojan War times. We see her story since she was left alone for twenty years by her husband who left for the war. We see her struggle to maintain her kingdom, raise her kid while keeping faithful to her husband until he comes back showing he’d done the opposite of Penelope in his time away leading him to kill Penelope’s suitors and twelve of her maids.
This story is extremely entertaining and has the same vibes as the two previously mentioned. We get to feel empathy for these women and at the same time realise the disgusting actions of the heroes. It also feels very personal because we follow a very humane character for a very long time. In addition to the perspective already being unique because it's the perspective of a woman, it is a woman that is extremely far away from the conflict, which adds another layer to the story.
Ariadne
In this book, we follow Ariadne, the princess of Crete in Ancient Greece. She lives the life of a typical princess except for one detail and it’s that she lives above her minotaur brother who waits patiently for sacrifices. However, everything changes when she meets and falls in love with Theseus the prince of Athens. She betrays everyone including her own country to let him kill the minotaur.
This incredible book is another one that puts women at the front and tells their stories. The writing is amazing- it manages to transport you into the character’s world. Besides this is a story you may not have heard before and that is not a problem to read this book. The unfairness of women’s position in society is wonderfully portrayed making this a very heartbreaking story.
Bibliography
Atwood, M. (2005). The Penelopiad. Goodreads. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17645.The_Penelopiad?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=QQ2BLfyR6e&rank=1
Barker, P. (2018). The Silence of the Girls. Goodreads. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37969723-the-silence-of-the-girls?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=O4QAXjcn6P&rank=1#
Haynes, N. (2019). A Thousand Ships. Goodreads. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53487148-a-thousand-ships?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ScWtSaNG20&rank=1
Saint, J. (2021). Ariadne by Jennifer Saint - Mythology. Goodreads. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54860614-ariadne