Greek historical fiction suggestions?

[Frequentflier]

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

The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker. I’ve started it but couldn’t get in to it. But you might like it.

Helen of Troy by Margaret George is one I enjoyed when I read it a few years ago. The Trojan war from the perspective of Helen.

Another vote for Silence of the Girls

Goatsong, The Walled Orchard Alexander at the World’s End and Olympiad by Tom Holt are very good in a somewhat lighter mode.

The Troy trilogy that starts with Lord if the silver bow, by David Gemmell. One of my favourite series. Re read this recently.

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.

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

I loved Silence of the girls.

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.

Thanks everyone. Many of these sound fascinating.

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).

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.

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 ...

I loved Circe

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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.