#BookReview-‘A Thousand Ships’ by Natalie Haynes

2 May 2019
0

THIS is the book I have been waiting for from the marvelous writer, broadcaster and stand up comedian,Natalie Haynes

‘A Thousand Ships’ which is published today in hardback from Mantle Books, takes on the behemoth of classical epic poems, ‘The Iliad’ and it’s sequel, ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer,

Both are 6th century BC, endlessly translated and debated, cornerstone oral poems which , to my mind, are overdue a feminist reckoning. ‘A Thousand Ships’ joins Madeline Miller’s ‘Circe’ and Pat Barker’s ‘Silence Of The Girls’ in raising a chorus of voices to give women their due in fiction and also in life.

About the book…

‘With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War’ Madeline Miller, author of Circe

In A Thousand Ships, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective.

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of all of them. . .

In the middle of the night, Creusa wakes to find her beloved Troy engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of brutal conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over, and the Greeks are victorious. Over the next few hours, the only life she has ever known will turn to ash . . .

The devastating consequences of the fall of Troy stretch from Mount Olympus to Mount Ida, from the citadel of Troy to the distant Greek islands, and across oceans and sky in between. These are the stories of the women embroiled in that legendary war and its terrible aftermath, as well as the feud and the fatal decisions that started it all. . .

Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, ‘A Thousand Ships’ gives voices to the women, girls and goddesses who, for so long, have been silent.

The tale of Troy was begun with a woman who was taken from Sparta to Troy on the whim of a spoilt prince. Helen, wife of Menelaus, and Paris of Troy had a love that spanned centuries, we are still talking about the ten year war that it created, even today. But was she taken or did she go willingly? And how did she get to be sidelined in her own story? Here is Natalie Haynes with an alternative retelling…

Darkly humorous-she has the muse, Callioope, refuse to work until Homer says ‘please’-and wicked, this centres the women before, during and after the Trojan War. Beginning at the end, with the destruction of Troy as seen through the eyes of Creusa as she tries to escape the flames which are destroying the city, Natalie gives representation to all the females involved.

From goddess’ to wives of queens, handmaidens to Amazons, all stand here, fierce, proud and righteously pissed off.

As in real life, women are the unsung casualties of war, to be done with as the soldiers and winning side will, sold as pieces of meat, swapped and bargained with between troops, blamed for everything and dying without glory. For when men die in war it is , as the Ancient Greeks clamoured for, the concept of kleos, to die in the midst of battle and have poems sung for generations after about it. Poems and laments sung by women? But of course! They are the true chroniclers of war yet their voices are rarely, if ever heard.

Briseis is only ever discussed in terms of being given to Achilles, Helen as a prize worth going to war for, Cassandra as a victim rather visionary ,Hecabe as pathetic and old, the Amazons as foolish and reckless with their bravery.

‘Hecabe nodded.She had already learned that the worst dreams were not the ones where the flaming walls were crashing down on you,or where armed men were chasing you ,or where your beloved menfolk were dying before your eyes.They were the ones when your husband lived again, when your son still smiled,when your daughter looked forward to her wedding.’

‘When the Amazon queen rode into battle she would ride as her sister,as the greatest warrior of them all.She picked up her round shield, hard red leather bound to five layers of calf-skin.She placed her sword in the sheath,and picked up her long spear,testing its weight and its sharp point.She was ready.’

My favourite character from ‘The Odyssey’, Penelope is brought to life so beautifully it made me want to punch the air!

‘I was warned once that you were trouble.My mother used to say it was stitched into your very name,that you would never be seperated from it.I hushed her and told her that you were too clever for trouble to entangle you.You’d outsmart it,I said. And if that didn’t work, you’d outrun it.I suppose I should have known that the trouble would find you at sea,where cleverness and speed offer little advantage.’

Her letters to Odysseus over the 10 years it takes him to return home give her such life, she is so much more than the clever witted ,but passive weaver depicted in ‘The Odyssey’ who waylays all the suitors desperate to marry the widow in waiting, by weaving her father’s death shroud and at night unravelling it.

Side characters given little to do such as Thetis, barely mentioned in passing, are given the opportunity to speak and to mourn as the chapters alternate between specific characters and The Trojan Women as a chorus. It is a brilliant and breathtaking read which has all the hallmarks of a thriller, a character study and modern fiction in a classical setting. Incredibly moving and vibrant, these are women who have waited long enough to be heard.

And like the furies themselves they are vengeful and ringing in their denouncement of how men have treated, and continue to treat, the women of the Trojan War.

From the very first line where she subverts the voice of Homer and replaces it with Calliope, giving agency to the goddess whose talents Homer begs for in ‘The Iliad’, it is clear that this a clever, special and extremely focussed novel which I cannot rave about enough. Thoroughly recommended and ADORED by this book lover!

About the author…

Natalie Haynes, author of‘The Amber Fury’ and ‘The Children Of Jocasta’ , is a graduate of Cambridge University and an award-winning comedian, journalist, and broadcaster. She judged the Man Booker Prize in 2013 and was a judge for the final Orange Prize in 2012. Natalie was a regular panelist on BBC2’s Newsnight Review, Radio 4’s Saturday Review, and the long-running arts show, Front Row. She is a guest columnist for the The Independent and The Guardian. Her radio series, ‘Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics’, was first broadcast in March 2014(HIGHLY recommended, keep an eye on the BBC iplayer for it!)