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A review by justjeanettelee
Helen of Troy by Margaret George
5.0
Without a doubt, my favourite piece of historical fiction.
I first read this book the year it came out (2007) - I was twelve years old. And although my love for Ancient Greece, its history and mythology had been with me since viewing the TV movie "Helen of Troy" in 2003 and "Troy" in 2004, it was George's interpretation that truly captured my love. Since first discovering Helen of Sparta/Helen of Troy, I've been obsessed with her tale and have gone to such lengths as to reading Bettany Hughes' biography, viewing her documentary and delving my love into all things Helen and the Trojan War. It was Helen (and from this book in particular) that I realised my calling in life. I want to be an archaeologist. I want to be an epigraphist. I want to be an historian. All because of Helen and the Trojan War.
While this tale is certainly not the first nor the last to reinvent the "Trojan War myth" (I write this in inverts because there is much speculation as to whether there was a war or not; I believe there was), but George's imagination, interpretation, thorough research and devotion to the story of Helen and the Trojan War certainly allows for it to stand out above and beyond the rest.
George truly captures the essence of Helen, Paris, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector and all the rest of the cast that had their roles to play in the unfolding of the Trojan War.
While Helen may have been the "face to launch a thousand ships", she was also the woman to launch a thousand dreams of mine.
I've read this book every year (aside from last year) ever since I first got it as a Christmas present, and it never ceases to fill me with awe and love, hate and shock, from each turn of the page. I will continue to love this story, this reinvention, until I too have hair that is grey and lines upon my face.
Thank you Margaret George.
I first read this book the year it came out (2007) - I was twelve years old. And although my love for Ancient Greece, its history and mythology had been with me since viewing the TV movie "Helen of Troy" in 2003 and "Troy" in 2004, it was George's interpretation that truly captured my love. Since first discovering Helen of Sparta/Helen of Troy, I've been obsessed with her tale and have gone to such lengths as to reading Bettany Hughes' biography, viewing her documentary and delving my love into all things Helen and the Trojan War. It was Helen (and from this book in particular) that I realised my calling in life. I want to be an archaeologist. I want to be an epigraphist. I want to be an historian. All because of Helen and the Trojan War.
While this tale is certainly not the first nor the last to reinvent the "Trojan War myth" (I write this in inverts because there is much speculation as to whether there was a war or not; I believe there was), but George's imagination, interpretation, thorough research and devotion to the story of Helen and the Trojan War certainly allows for it to stand out above and beyond the rest.
George truly captures the essence of Helen, Paris, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector and all the rest of the cast that had their roles to play in the unfolding of the Trojan War.
While Helen may have been the "face to launch a thousand ships", she was also the woman to launch a thousand dreams of mine.
I've read this book every year (aside from last year) ever since I first got it as a Christmas present, and it never ceases to fill me with awe and love, hate and shock, from each turn of the page. I will continue to love this story, this reinvention, until I too have hair that is grey and lines upon my face.
Thank you Margaret George.