Description

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (2000 ed.)

Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls retells the story of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women whose voices were silenced by history. Centered on Briseis, queen of Lyrnessus turned war captive, the novel exposes the human cost of heroism as celebrated in Homer’s Iliad, shifting the focus from battlefield glory to the suffering endured by enslaved women.

As Achilles, Agamemnon, and other Greek warriors wage war for honor and power, Briseis and the women of Troy survive violence, loss, and captivity, forced to navigate a world where they are treated as prizes rather than people. Barker portrays the brutal realities of war with unflinching clarity, revealing how mythic legends are built on trauma, exploitation, and silence.

Through spare, powerful prose, The Silence of the Girls examines themes of power, gender, survival, and memory, reclaiming agency for those erased from epic history. The novel offers a sharp, feminist re‑visioning of classical myth—one that confronts the cost of war and restores dignity to the lives history forgot.

Copyright: Originally published in 2018. This paperback copy was published by Penguin in 2019 with cover art including “Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 Shortlisted @WomensPrize”, “‘Stunning’ Observer“, “‘A triumph’ Sunday Times“, and “‘Brilliant’ Guardian”.

Condition: Good. Used. Vintage.

ISBN-10: 0241983207

ISBN-13: 9780241983201

Dewey Decimal: 823.914