Book World: Natalie Haynes A Thousand Ships brilliantly reframes the Trojan War
Carol Memmott, The Washington Post
Feb. 9, 2021
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Modern classicists are blowing up traditional notions about ancient narratives and sparking renewed interest in the mythological women whose dramas often play out in the shadows of their male counterparts.
Rock-star mythologist Natalie Haynes, like Madeline Miller, whose Circe retells the story of the witch at the center of The Odyssey, reboots ancient epics with fresh perspectives. Haynes highly praised 2017 novel, The Children of Jocasta, reimagines two Sophocles tragedies, and her most recent myth-based novel, A Thousand Ships, is equally provocative. Reimagining source material from Virgil, Homer, Euripides and others, Haynes delivers a sparkling narrative about the Trojan War that will appeal to fans of Game of Thrones as well as die-hard mythology nerds.
Introducing our 10 best debut novelists of 2021 The Observer
It’s a tough time to be a debut novelist, with so many of the usual channels for promoting new writing suspended or curtailed. The
Observer’s pick of this year’s first novels will be published in a country whose bookshops are closed, and whose literary festivals have been postponed or made virtual. It therefore feels particularly important to celebrate these books, to make sure that they receive the profile and plaudits they deserve.
This is the eighth year in which the
New Review team has read through dozens of first novels, looking for books that leap out from the crowd, writers who speak with powerful, fresh voices. Our record is pretty good. Last year we were the first to champion Douglas Stuart’s
Interview: Natalie Haynes, Author of A Thousand Ships : NPR npr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from npr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Iliad
So Homer tells us in the Iliad we think of it as the great Trojan War narrative, and it is but actually it tells us about two months of the war, which lasts for 10 years. And that s the story that we have in the
Odyssey, which is a much more expansive story, then we get very many more female characters. So much so that in the 19th century, one slightly impish suggestion was that a woman must have written the
Odyssey because no man could have written all these plausible female characters. I can t imagine who they d been reading that gave them that idea, but obviously I totally would agree.
amazon.com
The music practically pours out of the pages of Denny S. Bryce s historical novel, set among the artists and dreamers of the 1920s. Honoree Dalcour is making her way in Chicago s Jazz Age, where she brushes elbows with Louis Armstrong and other aspiring chorus girls. In 2015, a film student has the chance to get to know Honoree then 110! and hear her story.
Release Date: March 30
amazon.com Most castles are defended by powerful men. This one, by women. So Stephanie Dray s riveting tale of a place where the past still echoes in the stones begins. The saga links multiple women who live in the French castle over the years, from the French Revolution to WWI and WWII. In addition to sharing an address, all three share inconvenient brushes with history. We can learn from Adrienne, Beatrice, and Marthe s stories, even as we re swept away.