Greek mythology is very in vogue in fiction at the moment but there is nothing formulaic about Pat Barker’s work. Also, I would really be repeating myself, to be honest, as the themes are the same as it is essentially the same story but just continued. I am reviewing these two together as my reading of them, rapidly one after the other, makes it impossible for me to separate them. There is key background information from The Silence of the Girls woven into the narrative of The Women of Troy, but this is very much a sequel, not a standalone, and to me, the emotional context was not there you get that from The Silence of the Girls, plus, the whole mood of the Greek camp and their fractious relations is better understood if you’ve read The Silence of the Girls first. I would recommend reading The Silence of the Girls prior to The Women of Troy. I read them rapidly and one after the other, unwilling to put them down. The Women of Troy continues the story commendably, however, and this is just my impression, it didn’t offer quite the same level of intensity, but considered together, these are an excellent pair of novels. The Silence of the Girls is the more powerful novel, it vibrates with brutality and is infused with fear it is a deeply emotional story. These two novels are a victory for every person who was silenced by history, their story stolen from them and absorbed into the male narrative of war and conquest.
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