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Original poster

Greek historical fiction suggestions?

30 replies

Frequentflier · 22/04/2021 20:27

I feel in need of some inspiring Greek historical fiction. Like Mary Renault or Madeleine Miller. Any suggestions?

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Star555 · 28/05/2021 21:36

There is a new book, Elektra, coming out next spring from the author of Ariadne, which I recently read and loved! Elektra will revolve around the tragedy of Agamemnon's family -- his wife Clytmenestra, daughter Elektra, and Cassandra, the princess and prophetess of Troy he seized and brought back to Greece as his concubine.

Harveyrabbit76 · 25/05/2021 19:56

The last kingdom of Lydia by Tim Leach was great as was Song of Achilles, Circe and Silence of the girls

nythbran2 · 25/05/2021 19:48

Henry Treece - out of print, try Abebooks

cariadlet · 25/05/2021 19:44

@Star55 Thanks for coming back to the thread. I'm glad you enjoyed Ariadne. It sounds really interesting. I'll look out for it next time I'm in a bookshop (how nice to be able to say that again!). I'll look out for the changes with Phaedra.

Star555 · 25/05/2021 01:05

@Frequentflier @cariadlet I just finished reading Ariadne and loved it! The book alternates viewpoints between Ariadne and her sister Phaedra. The part about Phaedra and Hippolytus was interestingly told, but I thought it VERY strange why the author didn't use the traditional narrative of vengeful Aphrodite causing Phaedra to be driven mad with desire for Hippolytus (much like Pasiphae driven mad for the bull), and instead made it seem that Phaedra's desire was a product of her own free mind. The author strongly hammered the point that poor innocent mortals suffer as collateral damage of the gods' wrath towards others, citing many examples like Pasiphae and Medusa. So why not Phaedra?

MaMaLa321 · 20/05/2021 09:45

I'm glad that someone else didn't get on with Silence of the Girls.

My suggestion is Homer's Daughter by Robert Graves. There used to be a theory going round that the Odyssey could have been written by a woman, and this, written from the viewpoint of Nausicaa takes that as the premise.

I read it years and years ago, but enjoyed it at the time.

Whataboutthattthen · 17/05/2021 20:41

The children of Jocasta also by Natalie Haynes- A retelling of the Oedipus story.

I also enjoyed A Thousand Ships and The silence of the girls so much check out some more mentioned here.

RoyalCorgi · 30/04/2021 12:47

Natalie Haynes's A Thousand Ships tells the story of the Trojan war from the women's point of view - so covers some of the same ground as the Pat Barker book. I loved it.

Original poster
Frequentflier · 25/04/2021 20:45

Oh the Ariadne book sounds wonderful. I have been interested in her ever since I read Mary Renault's The King Must Die, which of course paints her from Theseus's viewpoint, in a not very kindly light. It would be great to read one from her viewpoint.

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Star555 · 25/04/2021 17:59

@cariadlet Thanks for mentioning this book -- it's Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. I just looked it up and it sounds wonderful. I will be sure to give it a read.

cariadlet · 24/04/2021 21:32

I loved Song of Achilles, Circe and The Silence of the Girls.

The most recent email I had from Waterstone's recommended a new retelling of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur from the point of view of Ariadne. Has anyone read it or heard anything about it? I wasn't sure if it's worth trying or if it's just jumping on the bandwagon.

SJaneS49 · 24/04/2021 21:11

I really didn’t buy in to Song of Achilles (Circe was great though).

Original poster
Frequentflier · 24/04/2021 20:17

Yes, I have read both The Song of the Achilles and Circe; loved them. Circe particularly was so unusual and I loved the way she focused on a minor goddess.

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SwanShaped · 24/04/2021 09:27

Thanks @beccahamlet. I’ll give it another go. It all just seemed like killing at the beginning and was quite intense.

beccahamlet · 24/04/2021 03:08

@SwanShaped
I think it gets better when you get further in and begin to invest in the main character/s

Star555 · 23/04/2021 15:30

Song of Achilles (also by the author of Circe, Madeline Miller) is a great read as well.

Since OP explicitly mentioned Like Mary Renault or Madeleine Miller in her original post, I assumed she has already read Circe and/or Song of Achilles, hence I didn't mention them earlier. But since people are still mentioning Circe, I thought Song of Achilles deserved a mention too!

Hoppinggreen · 23/04/2021 15:21

I loved Circe

LaTomatina · 23/04/2021 15:17

My friend recommended Circe by Madeline Miller. I have had it sitting on the shelf for ages but haven't got into it yet. She always recommends good things, though, so I must give it another go ...

Londonmummy66 · 23/04/2021 15:14

Circe is really good. I also liked Margaret Attwood's Penelopiad.

I enjoyed Silence of the Girls - but when I was at school we had to translate chunks of the Iliad so anything seems readable after that.

Star555 · 23/04/2021 14:51

I haven't read it, but have heard good things about Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin (deals with events after the Trojan War from a female perspective).

Original poster
Frequentflier · 23/04/2021 11:53

Thanks everyone. Many of these sound fascinating.

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SwanShaped · 23/04/2021 10:55

For those who’ve read silence of the girls, were you gripped from the beginning? I’ve tried it twice but only got 20 pages.

beccahamlet · 22/04/2021 23:42

I loved Silence of the girls.

bluedomino · 22/04/2021 22:26

Anne Zouroudi - The Greek Detective. Hermes Diaktoris works on behalf of the "Authorities".

moonlight1705 · 22/04/2021 22:02

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes is good. The tale of Troy through the eyes of Trojan women.

When I was younger I used to love The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley but it is very cheesy.