The Silence of the Girls: A Review

 RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

TW: SEXUAL ASSAULT AND ABUSE 

 

When the Greek Queen Helen is kidnapped by Trojans, the Greeks sail in pursuit, besieging the city of Troy. Trapped in the Greek soldiers’ camp is another captured queen, Briseis. Condemned to be bed-slave to Achilles, the man who butchered her family, she becomes a pawn in a menacing game between bored and frustrated warriors. In the centuries after this most famous war, history will write her off, a footnote in a bloody story scripted by vengeful men – but Briseis has a very different tale to tell…

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker is a retelling of Homer’s Iliad from the perspective of side character Briseis. Briseis was a Trojan royal whose family were butchered by the Greek Achilles and when her city Lyrnessus falls to the Greek army, she is chosen to be Achilles’ bed-slave. The story of the Trojan war focuses on the men who fought on both sides: from Achilles, Patroclus, Agamemnon, and Odysseus on the Greek side to Hector, Priam, and Paris on the Trojan side. The story traditionally revolves around the men with the women being set aside or used as points of blame, especially Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships”. Pat Barker reimagines the famous story from the point of view of one of the women who was only considered to be collateral damage in the infamous Trojan War. 

 

Briseis was a Trojan royal taken as a sex-slave when her city falls to the Greek army before the siege of Troy. As she is described to be very beautiful and from a noble family, she is picked by the Greek “hero” Achilles. She is the narrator, describing what life was like for her in the Greek camp on the outskirts of Troy. Briseis discusses her time in Achilles’ camp during which she grows close to Patroclus and his slave, Iphis. During an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon, after which Achilles refuses to fight for the Greeks, Briseis is taken by Agamemnon, who rapes her then tosses her aside. When the Greeks become more desperate as the Trojans are advancing closer to the Greek camp, Agamemnon gives Briseis back to Achilles along with jewels as a payment to get him to fight again. Ultimately, it is Patroclus that leads the Myrmidons, Achilles’ men, into battle dressed in his friends armour. Patroclus is slaughtered by Trojan Prince Hector, which results in Achilles agreeing to fight. Just before he re-joins the war, Briseis reveals to Achilles that she is pregnant with his child. However, as the fates predicted, Achilles is killed by Paris, Hector’s brother, leaving Briseis to return to Greece alone with Achilles’ army. 

 

I absolutely love Ancient Greece and Roman history. It has always been something that has interested me, so much so that I studied a Higher in Classical Studies in my sixth year of high school. The story of the Trojan War was one that wound its way into a lot of the course and our teacher liked to tell us little snippets every so often. We even watched the film Troy (not sure how I feel about Brad Pitt playing Achilles). I’ve never read The Iliad and it’s been on my “to be read” list for years. After reading this book, I really want to read The Iliad and see the difference in how the women are represented. 

 

Pat Barker does not romanticise any aspect of the Trojan War in the book. She describes the disgusting living conditions the soldiers and slaves lived in, recounts the absolute atrocities the women faced from brutal rape to abuse at the hands of the kings and soldiers, and tells of the complete dehumanisation of the women during the War. The women in the Trojan War were not treated as human beings by any of the men, instead like sex dolls waiting on their every need. Their experiences and feelings were never mentioned nor taken into consideration in the traditional stories of the War. It is an eye-opening story that highlights just how horribly the women in Ancient Greece were treated and how they were blamed for the actions of men. 

 

I really enjoyed this book. It was on my “to-be-read” list for months and I read it in just a few days. No doubt I would’ve finished it quicker had I not had university classes and work. I would recommend this book to everyone, especially people who love Ancient Greek history. It tells the story of a character that everyone knows but no one gives much thought to. I knew who Briseis was in relation the myth of Achilles but not her story. Ancient Greek women are very often tossed aside in the myths and are only really mentioned when their actions are used to shame them. The Silence of the Girls reimagines how life would have been for the tragic women who were collateral damage in the Trojan War. Again, I highly recommend this book.

Until next time, I’ll continue reading with wanderlust. 

📚🧳✈️🗺