(On a personal note,
while this novel is well-written and easy to read, I found myself wondering how
much of it was based on recorded history, or how much was based on the author’s
creative thinking. Review by Barry Meehan for ARTSMART)
Pat Barker only began her career as a novelist in her forties, after taking a course in short story writing.
To date she has published 17 novels, including her masterful Regeneration trilogy, been made a CBE for her services to literature, and won the UK’s highest literary honour, the Booker Prize.
Most believed the war would never end, but finally the city of Troy has fallen and is in ruins, courtesy of a wooden horse which fooled the city’s defenders into believing that the Greeks had finally given up their rescue efforts to reunite Helen with her rightful husband, Menelaus, brother of the supreme commander of the attacking forces, Agamemnon.
The Greek ships, filled to the brim with looted treasure, also carry many captured women to be used as slaves and concubines by the victorious Greek leaders. The main characters of this novel are amongst these women – Cassandra, a legendary prophetess, taken as a war-wife by Agamemnon, and her faithful maid, Ritsa, who narrates the story.
The voyage itself is bad enough, with their ship having to survive a monstrous storm as well as the ravings of Cassandra, convinced that the visions she is having of her and Agamemnon lying dead together, are real and will come to pass as soon as they arrive home. Unbeknown to Cassandra and Ritsa, Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, is eagerly awaiting her husband’s return and has spent the ten long years of war plotting his demise with her lover, Aegisthus. Clytemnestra’s hatred of her husband stems from his decision to sacrifice their eldest daughter, Iphigenia, in return for a fair wind to get him to Troy for the start of the war. Vengeance consumes Clytemnestra, and she will stop at nothing to achieve her aim.
On a personal note, while this novel is well-written and easy to read, I found myself wondering how much of it was based on recorded history, or how much was based on the author’s creative thinking. Why I say this is, I was coincidentally given another novel to review by artSMart – Odyssey by Stephen Fry, who is an expert when it comes to Greek history. He is also a researcher of note, backing up his novel with historical references from various sources. The two versions of this story differ somewhat (although Fry’s covers the far greater journey and travails of Odysseus) and while I’m not saying which I prefer or believe, it was really interesting reading both versions. If you can do this, so much the better for your understanding of Greek history. – Barry Meehan
The Voyage Home is published by Penguin Random House UK. ISBN 978-0-241-56825-5
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