In Barker's masterly continuation of her fiercely feminist take on Homer's Iliad (after The Silence of the Girls), the Greeks drag their wooden horse into Troy and achieve victory after a 10-year siege, but a freak storm prevents their ships from returning home. As time drags on, Briseis, the heroine of the previous installment, struggles to survive as an enemy noncombatant prisoner in the siege camp. A former queen of a Trojan ally, she was kidnapped by Achilles as his prize of honor and turned into his sex slave. But now Achilles is dead and Briseis is pregnant. Handed down to Lord Alcimus as his wife, she spends her days, as soldiers play football with a human head, commiserating with the other Trojan women--Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache and, of course, Helen, the cause of the war. Briseis shares narrative duties with Pyrrhus, the bloodthirsty son of Achilles, and Calchas, a canny priest of Troy. In a novel filled with names from legend, Briseis stands tall as a heroine: brave, smart and loyal. The author makes strategic use of anachronistic language ("living in the real world," "keep a low profile") to illuminate characters living at the dawn of myth. Barker's latest is a wonder. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (Aug.)

Engrossing follow-up to the gritty reimagining of the Trojan War begun in The Silence of the Girls (2018). Barker opens "inside the horse's gut: heat, darkness, sweat, fear," as Greek soldiers wait to see if the Trojans will wheel the wooden horse into the city and seal its fate. We look through the eyes of Achilles' son Pyrrhus, terrified that he will never live up to the mighty reputation of his dead father. The insecurity behind male violence is a theme from the moment Pyrrhus blunderingly hacks to death Trojan king Priam in front of an altar, a sacrilege that is punished by winds that make it impossible for the Greek ships to set sail for home. Briseis, the enslaved narrator of the previous novel, picks up the story in Chapter 3. Now pregnant with Achilles' child and married (at his request) to a Greek warrior, she's well aware that any misstep on her part could send her back to the slave quarters. Trouble stirs there with Amina, who is determined to properly bury Priam's maimed corpse, left to rot in the open by Pyrrhus. "You're a girl, Amina. You can't fight the kings," Briseis wearily tells her. Her hard-won knowledge that "the only thing that mattered in this camp was power" doesn't prevent Briseis from feeling sympathy in addition to exasperation for idealistic Amina, vengeance-obsessed Trojan royals Hecuba and Cassandra (now slaves), and even for brutal, conflicted Pyrrhus and other male characters drawn with the same shrewdness. Barker's blunt, earthy prose strips the romance from Greek mythology, revealing its foundations in murder and oppression, yet she also understands--and conveys--the stark appeal of these ancient stories as she asks us to reconsider them through the eyes of their victims. As with her masterful Regeneration trilogy, the inconclusive close of this volume leaves readers hungry to know what happens next to a host of complex and engaging characters. Vintage Barker: challenging, stimulating, and profoundly satisfying. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The winds have stilled, stranding the victorious Greek army outside the ruined walls of Troy, and captive Briseis--formerly the mistress of Achilles--sees an opportunity for revenge. Among those she persuades to join her are soothsayer Calchas and Hecuba, the aging queen of defeated King Priam. The latest from the author of the Booker Prize-winning "Regeneration Trilogy."

Barker's sequel to The Silence of the Girls (2018) continues the story of Queen Briseis, given as a war prize to Achilles. After Achilles' death, the pregnant Briseis' marriage to his comrade Alcimus offers a modicum of security and status as a wife, rather than a powerless slave and concubine. Through Briseis' eyes, readers experience the aftermath of the fall of Troy. What should be a triumphant victory sours as Priam's body is left unburied and the gods send unfavorable winds to prevent the Greeks from leaving for home. Briseis is an engaging character, both pragmatic and perceptive, providing keen insight into monsters such as Pyrrhus, as well as the women of Troy. Also brought to life are Hecuba, old, ill, and revenge-crazed; traumatized Andromache; Cassandra, cursed by the gods with prophecies no one believes; and beautiful Helen, right back where she began, in Menelaus' bed, while the entire world loathes her. Briseis' story doesn't end with the last page; Barker seems set to pick up her absorbing narrative in a future volume as the Greeks finally set sail for home.