The Silence of the Girls

The Silence of the Girls - review

Synopsis:

There was a woman at the heart of the Trojan War whose voice has been silent - until now. Discover the greatest Greek myth of all - retold by the witness that history forgot . . .

Briseis was a queen until her city was destroyed. Now she is a slave to the man who butchered her husband and brothers. Trapped in a world defined by men, can she survive to become the author of her own story?

My Review:

A brutal and honest retelling of the Trojan War from Briseis’ perspective, as well as occasional chapters from Patroclus and Achilles’ points of view.

This book is brilliantly written and I especially enjoyed the speech, written as common British dialect (‘piss’, ‘bloody’, ‘bugger’), which made the characters all the more human and all the more relatable.

This novel does not hold back from including every gory and disturbing detail of the horrors of war, creating a bleak picture of the Trojan War, far from the colourful displays of glory that feature in other retellings.

The Silence of the Girls shows the true nature of humanity, however harrowing and unsettling that may be, shown through the horrific treatment of women and children during the sacking of Troy, the slaughtering of innocent animals to please the gods and brutal murders of young and old men on the battlefield.

A poignant alternative retelling that certainly shows another side to the story, a side that many people will not want to hear.

My Rating: 10/10

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