I love the legend of Troy and how it is believed that the war started because of the gods, specifically Eris, who was the goddess of discord and chaos because of her nature she wasn't invited to the wedding of the gods Peleus and Thetis but she interrupted the party and in anger threw a golden apple amongst the goddess with the words inscribed on it "to the fairest". Three goddesses claimed their rights to it and decided a mortal should decide who deserved it, so they called Paris Prince of Troy who was a shepard's son having been outcasted by his family after his sister Cassandra had a vision that Paris would be the one to burn Troy to the ground. Each goddess offered Paris something, wisdom the ability to win every battle but Aphrodite caught his heart by whispering that she could give him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite and in a rage the other goddess's left sealing Troy's fate.
Helen of Troy is told from the perspective of Helen and the book starts from when she is born, with golden hair, blue eyes and pale pink skin and how it was rumoured that she was the son of god when he went to Helen's mother in the form of a bull. The story follows Helen as she grows up and eventually is eligible for marriage and receives a 100 suitors, her father feared that a war would break out after Helen decides who she shall marry so they suitors have to swear that they shall honour who Helen marries and if any man shall ever take her away they will go to war. Helen chooses a husband, Menelaus and has a daughter Hermione but events are going on in Troy when Prince Paris shows up after been gone for many years and he is on his way to Troy.
Daughter of a god, wife of a king, prize of antiquity's bloodiest war, Helen of Troy has inspired artists for millennia. Now, Margaret George, the highly acclaimed bestselling historical novelist, has turned her intelligent, perceptive eye to the myth that is Helen of Troy.
Margaret George breathes new life into the great Homeric tale by having Helen narrate her own story. Through her eyes and in her voice, we experience the young Helen's discovery of her divine origin and her terrifying beauty. While hardly more than a girl, Helen married the remote Spartan king Menelaus and bore him a daughter. By the age of twenty, the world's most beautiful woman was resigned to a passionless marriage until she encountered the handsome Trojan prince Paris. And once the lovers flee to Troy, war, murder, and tragedy become inevitable.
In Helen of Troy, Margaret George has captured a timeless legend in a mesmerizing tale of a woman whose life was destined to create strife and destroy civilisations.
This is an unforgettable read that follows Helen through her whole life not just when she was in Troy but afterwards and what happened to her, the face that launched a thousand ships. I absolutely adore this book!
