The Silence of the Girls

Pat Barker retells The Iliad from the point of view of Briseis, a young Trojan queen who is enslaved by Achilles; she is his reward for a military victory. The Trojan women have a complicated relationship with their Greek captors and Briseis is no exception. What these women endure is brutal; Barker doesn't gloss over the violence of war or the treatment of those enslaved. Content warnings apply.