The exhilarating follow-up to Pat Barker's The Women of Troy and The Silence of the Girls
After ten blood-filled years, the war is over. Troy lies in smoking ruins as the victorious Greeks fill their ships with the spoils of battle.
Alongside the treasures looted are the many Trojan women captured by the Greeks - among them the legendary prophetess Cassandra, and her watchful maid, Ritsa. Enslaved as concubine - war-wife - to King Agamemnon, Cassandra is plagued by visions of his death - and her own - while Ritsa is forced to bear witness to both Cassandra's frenzies and the horrors to come.
Meanwhile, awaiting the fleet's return is Queen Clytemnestra, vengeful wife of Agamemnon. Heart-shattered by her husband's choice to sacrifice their eldest daughter to the gods in exchange for a fair wind to Troy, she has spent this long decade plotting retribution, in a palace haunted by child-ghosts.
As one wife journeys toward the other, united by the vision of Agamemnon's death, one thing is certain: this long-awaited homecoming will change everyone's fates forever.
Praise for Pat Barker:
'Barker delves unflinchingly into the enduring mysteries of human motivation' Sunday Telegraph
'She is not only a fine chronicler of war but of human nature' Independent
'Barker is a writer of crispness and clarity and an unflinching seeker of the germ of what it means to be human' Herald
'You go to her for plain truths, a driving storyline and a clear eye, steadily facing the history of our world' Guardian