Pat Barker – författare

Där Iliaden berättar om männen som stupade vid belägringen av Troja, vill Barker istället gestalta hur deras mödrar minns dem, hur de var som barn och den sorg de lämnar efter sig. Här styr hustrurnas och mödrarnas perspektiv, de som förbinder de skadade och tvättar liken, de som hela tiden hotas av död, våldtäkt, att bli fråntagna sina barn.

"Flickornas tystnad" ger röst åt krigets och tillvarons alla tysta kvinnor. Det är både en kärleksroman och en hjältedikt där Akilles är ett ensamt barn som förlorat sin mor och aldrig slutar söka efter henne. "Flickornas tystnad" är en bok att sträcklästa.

Brought to you by Penguin. Following her bestselling, critically acclaimed The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker continues her extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest myths.Troy has fallen. The Greeks have won their bitter war. They can return home as victors - all they need is a good wind to lift their sails. But the wind has vanished, the seas becalmed by vengeful gods, and so the warriors remain in limbo - camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed, kept company by the women they stole from it.The women of Troy.Helen - poor Helen. All that beauty, all that grace - and she was just a mouldy old bone for feral dogs to fight over.Cassandra, who has learned not to be too attached to her own prophecies. They have only ever been believed when she can get a man to deliver them.Stubborn Amina, with her gaze still fixed on the ruined towers of Troy, determined to avenge the slaughter of her king.Hecuba, howling and clawing her cheeks on the silent shore, as if she could make her cries heard in the gloomy halls of Hades. As if she could wake the dead.And Briseis, carrying her future in her womb: the unborn child of the dead hero Achilles. Once again caught up in the disputes of violent men. Once again faced with the chance to shape history.Masterful and enduringly resonant, ambitious and intimate, The Women of Troy continues Pat Barker''s extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest classical myths, following on from the critically acclaimed The Silence of the Girls. ''Taut, masterly, wholly absorbing. Still one of the greatest stories ever written. A book that will be read in generations to come'' Daily Telegraph on The Silence of the Girls © Pat Barker 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Brought to you by Penguin.The exhilarating follow-up to Pat Barker''s The Women of Troy and The Silence of the GirlsAfter 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©2024 Pat Barker (P)2024 Penguin Audio