The Survivors

In 2019 the Women's Prize Shortlist contained two novels that were feminist retelling of ancient myths - Madeline Miller's Circe and Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls (2018). I acquired both novels and read Circe last year - absolutely loving the fresh take, moving the narration to women who were on the periphery and making their thoughts and feelings central to the storytelling. 

My initial plan to read Barker's The Silence of the Girls fell apart as the pandemic shifted my focus and impacted my reading, but I picked it up this week and devoured it - utterly transported to the frontlines of the decade-long Trojan War and engrossed in the masterful storytelling. 

Mirroring the plot of Homer's The Iliad (circa 8th century), The Silence of the Girls is primarily narrated by Briseis, who becomes a trophy of war when Achilles sacks the city of Lyrnessus and takes her as his prize. Once privileged and married to the king's son, Briseis finds herself Achilles' slave and is bitterly aware of her new position: 'I do what countless women before me have been forced to do... I spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and my brothers'. Such is the fate of women who survive the battle.

Only nineteen, but wise beyond her years, Briseis is a keen observer, learning Achilles' moods and studying his relationship with his beloved Patroclus. She knows that if she falls out of Achilles' favour he will hand her over to the soldiers to be raped and perhaps killed. So she keeps her head down, her mouth shut, and does all that she is asked by her master.

Achilles is a legendary warrior and his skills are needed to defeat Hector and claim the city of Troy. But he falls out with Agamemnon and ends up losing Briseis who is handed over to Agamemnon as his slave. Achilles then refuses to fight further battles alongside Agamemnon - a decision which ends up claiming the lives of Achilles' men and ultimately leads to his downfall. 

Barker is a skilled writer who brings the battlefield to life. By telling the story through the eyes of women, the reader is not presented with heroism and glory, but rather the immeasurable loss and brutality of war. The women are silenced, mostly unseen, yet essential in this world - as nurses, seamstresses, cooks, servants, sex slaves. Survival is their only object, knowing that one false move will result in brutality or death. 

Despite her outward subtlety and deference, Briseis is formidable. She survives by remaining silent, forging friendships with other captured women and finding moments of solitude. But she never loses sight of the volatile position she is in. While she is paired with Achilles and later Agamemnon, great figures in this war, she knows this is not a romance and questions how some of the trophy wives have come to have feelings for their captors, doubting she could ever feel that way. In some ways she has accepted her fate, but fear is always present as she cautiously navigates her way in this world.

Barker has given voice to the real heroes of the battle, the women who survived. While reading, I also listened along to the audiobook brilliantly performed by Kristin Atherton, enhancing my experience of the novel.

I am thrilled that there is a sequel, and that Pat Barker's The Women of Troy (2021) picks up where The Silence of the Girls left off. Guess what I am reading next?