Oh dear :( Things started slowly, but I thought 'Give it time. It might improve'. It didn't.
I've reached the halfway mark and decided to quit, as it wasn't holding my attention and I'd starting skipping huge sections - specifically those about goddesses and Penelope's rambling letters to Odysseus.
The story is familiar to most, and I don't think this re-telling adds anything. I was most disappointed that a book claiming to tell things from the perspective of the women involved actually still revolved around the men.
Maybe readers who AREN'T familiar with the original will find it interesting. It's not for me
I shan't be reviewing this online as it doesn't really seem right

This wonderful book is a collection of the stories of the women and goddesses of the Trojan War. Each story stood alone, but together also wove a tapestry of the epic Greek myth. Natalie Haynes’ writing is clear and beautiful, not afraid to push the boundaries of emotion. Penelope’s humorously snarky letters to Odysseus sit alongside the tragic grief-filled story of Andromache and the rage-filled revenge of Clytemnestra.

I watched the author’s talk at the 2020 Hay Digital Festival and was pleased to discover that she is as engaging in person as she is in her book.

A thoroughly recommended read. I’m going to subscribe to the Radio 4 podcast now and keep an eye out for future books and events.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

What an absolute treasure of a book! This is a beautiful, majestic masterful telling of the Iliad from the perspective of the women. It's a must-read for fans of Madeline Miller or Stephen Fry's Greek series! I loved it!

With how many of stories of ancient Greece I've read in the last couple years you'd think I'd either know them all by now or be completely sick of them, or both...

Haynes successfully gives story time to more women who are usually relegated to the periphery of classic tales. And my fave parts of this one were the narratives of women I've seen the least of previously - Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, Laodamia, Hecabe and Polyxena. The stories of these women who maybe don't feature all that heavily in other texts and have therefore less filler to work with worked well here for me. Far more so than Penelope, who was absolutely my greatest regret of this book. If she is wastes in Homer she's perhaps even more wasted here. You can see Haynes trying not to give her depth and humour and also trying not to invent facts not in evidence in the other literature, but that balancing act just did not come together for me. The frequent (and lengthy) letters to Odysseus were a strange choice; she's writing him synopses of songs being sung about things happening to him? <i>Really?</i> Also, her propensity to blame Circe and Calypso for his delays and infidelities is just so yuck.

I think, weirdly, Helen might have been one of my fave characters here too - and another wasted opportunity. She was written as the version of smart and cold and calcuations that I would have liked to have seen from Penelope.

Nina MacLaughlin's <i>Wake, Siren. Ovid Resung.</i> is a lenghty set of the most brutal retellings of Greek myths from the perpspectives of women and it moved me from rage to tears to rage-tears a dozen times over. That is what I wanted here, but for me <i>A Thousand Ships</i> just didn't manage to capture that intensity. Perhaps it is the third person narration which by its style cannot as immediately 'give voice'? Or maybe it is the sassy interjections by Calliope, which - for me - just further distanced me from the perspectives of the female story subjects? "She isn't a footnote, she's a person", Calliope tells the unnamed poet - and if you have to say it, then maybe you haven't sufficiently shown it... I'm not sure.

In short, this is a good book, just not my favorite in a pretty well stocked genre.


My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the arc to review.

This a great retelling of mythological characters; mere mortals such as Helen of Troy, Achilles and also the Greek gods Hera, Zeus and co. Haynes also gives you a unique take on the great Trojan War and it’s aftermath, all from the perspectives of the women affected by it. And there are quite a few. I really like Haynes writing in this book; it’s full of wit and humour - my particular favourite are Penelope’s letters to her husband Odysseus. But there’s also lots of heartache in this; how the victors in battle are quick to abuse the spoils of war and how mortals are so ready to sacrifice their loved ones in devotion of their god. If you like mythology and fantasy, this one is for you! The female take is an added bonus!

Wow! A fabulous re-telling of the Trojan war from an all female perspective. The tales and fates of the wives, mothers, daughters & sisters of the key male roles all unfold through a series of narrative styles. The stories of these brave women are displayed equal to the braveness of the warriors themselves.
A love or even knowledge of Greek Mythology is not essential to enjoy this wonderful book but if you are a ‘fan’ there is still much to be gained from reading.
Huge thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the opportunity to read this amazing novel.

"A thousand ships, all sailing across the perilous oceans in hope of finding one man's wife. It remains, I'm sure you agree, an astonishing state of affairs".

I'm working my way through the @womensprize short list and was very much looking forward to this one, I love fiction based on classical mythology!

This is the story of the Trojan War, told from the perspective of the women involved. Some of the women are well known to us from other tales, others less so but as their stories intertwine and we move between different parts of the war, their stories of strength, loss, tragedy and resilience really come to life.

I loved the writing style, it made it feel like you could strip away the mythology element and at the heart have a group of women surviving and thriving in life in different ways.

Overall a great read, I'd recommend to anyone looking for escapism and you don't need to know anything about mythology to thoroughly enjoy it. The author does a superb job of giving you all the detail and context you need.

Thank you to @netgalley and @panmacmillan for the opportunity to review. Out now!

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This is a really hard book to review because A THOUSAND SHIPS made me angry, in a way I think it was supposed to. I'm not angry at the book itself (which was wonderful), but at the truths it brings up about the world - and a good book is one that evokes such strong emotions.

I've read many books about the Trojan war over the years - from the Iliad to THE SONG OF ACHILLES to THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS to Adèle Geras' TROY and beyond. By now, I'd have thought I'd be immune to the surge of anger at the awful, horrible, callous, petulant men who are considered heroes and live on in everlasting fame. But no.

I struggled to articulate to friends (as a way of getting my thoughts to this) the wash of anger at what we as a society consider is worthy of regard, and why we spend so much time telling their stories, while others (the women) are shoved to single lines in maybe one recounting. It's why I find books like this so cathartic.

So how does A THOUSAND SHIPS evoke such a powerful, emotional response from me?

Instead of telling one story - Briseis, that most people know - A THOUSAND SHIPS tells two dozen stories, all the women who history forgot or neglected. Briseis and Helen are there, but they are only two of the women brought up. Both the women of Troy and the wives of the Greek kings get to tell their story - their loss, despair, and also their lives after the war is over.

Hecabe seeking revenge for the one son she can avenge. Laodamia grief stricken when her husband goes to fight with the Greeks. Oenone, Paris' first wife, abandoned for Helen. Penelope weary and frustrated at her husband's continued absence after the end of the war. Calliope, the muse being asked for stories of the war by a man, and trying to make him understand the lives of the women torn apart by these "heroes".

As there so many stories (far more than mentioned above), there's a vast range of women depicted, covering so many emotions and coping mechanisms. It's not one story, but a collection. Some women only appear in one story, others weave between. Most as third person, but Calliope speaks in first person and Penelope writes letters. I loved the variety of story telling methods used, and the dexterity with which the prose was wielded.

The more I reflect on this book and try to corral my thoughts into order, the more my admiration for this book grows and how much of an impact it's had on me. I'm not struggling to write this book because I had no thoughts, but because I had so many. I think this may be one of my favourite books this year!

A thousand ships set sail for Troy to return one woman. Haynes's masterpiece is the story of the woman affected by the ensuing war. From Hecabe in ruined Troy, Penelope waiting for her husband in Ithaca, and the goddesses on Olympus, squabbling for dominance, A Thousand Ship explores the lives and tragedies of every woman except the one those ships were launched for.

Their narratives are woven together with expert care and knowledge, with every new voice bringing a unique and fresh viewpoint. Haynes's masterpiece unravels in all directions, flitting between past and present in the manner of one of Cassandra's prophecies (and it's always nice to see my favourite classical figure getting such sensitive treatment in a story). Of all the viewpoints, Penelope was my favourite. Her letters to Odysseus were full of snark and wit, perfectly pinpointing the flaws of the Odyssey's hero.

A Thousand Ships is beautifully written and full of emotion. It contains brilliant explorations of war, grief, and life after the death of a loved one. The final chapters brought me to tears, others made for uncomfortable reading, but all subjects were sensitively handled.

This novel drew me back into narratives I love, providing depth and voice to figures often overlooked. It's been a while since I've read the myths and narratives this story is inspired by. A Thousand Ships felt like returning to a much loved world, with the focus shifted to the characters I'm most interested in hearing about. It is accessible to readers who don't have any prior knowledge of these stories, but equally enjoyable for those who do.

A Thousand Ships is a view of war beyond the battlefield. Sometimes, being a hero is about more than swords and arrows, it is picking up the pieces of a ruined life and moving forwards, it's having the strength to keep going when everything feels lost, or remaining strong and composed in the face of anguish. There is no 'right' way to be a hero, just as there is no 'right' way to retell Classical literature.

Writers like Natalie Haynes and Madeline Miller are rewriting classics with women in the foreground, and I love it. They are inspiring a new generation of women to enjoy classical literature, and I can't wait to see what they write next - and the new writers their stories inspire.

An excellent interpretation of the fall of Troy from the perspective of those those who are often overlooked, the women. An insightful and engaging look at how the other sex cope with war and the fallout. As female sacrifice and heroism can be marginalised, it was refreshing to read a book that celebrates their strengths and renders their voices vivid rather than pushing them to the sidelines.

A wonderful retelling of the voices of all the women of the Trojan war. This book gives them somewhere to speak up where they didn't have the chance in classical literature.

Haynes writing of many of the classical figures, especially that of the Trojan woman, and a few like Chyseis and Briseis provide us with the opportunity to hear their stories and struggles of what happened after the Trojan war.

The men in the countless classical stories may be deemed heroes but Haynes turns that thought around in this book, finally letting those who were silenced in the classic literature to speak.

I was thrilled to receive this arc and I would just like to say a huge thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for this chance in exchange for my honest review.

As a classics student and overall lover of greek mythology, I generally enjoyed reading all the tales of the women that Haynes wrote about. The only one that bothers me slightly was Penelope who through letters we see her recalling Odysseus' journey home through her information from the bard. Although I enjoyed how in these letters she gave Odysseus a piece of her mind, the general recount of the story had me skimming over the sections from seeing that it was mostly an overview of Odysseus' plight.

If had never read any other feminist retellings of Greek mythology I would probably love this. I suppose it's not fair to judge it this way but I don't read in a vacuum so I can't judge in one either! The story is very similar to The Silence of the Girls (obviously, as they both flesh out the female characters of The Iliad), which I already read and adored, whilst also keeping the detached, episodic style of actual mythology which Circe did too, and it once again prevented me from either becoming lost in the story or having any real feelings about it.


Objectively I know it takes real skill to capture that authentic mythical style, but it's never worked for me. It always feels like the story is all surface and no substance to really get your teeth into. I did like this don't get me wrong, I just didn't LOVE it like I expected to.

The retelling of famous Greek myths and stories has really boomed these last couple of years, specially retellings from female points of view. "The Penelopiad", "The Song of Achilles" and "House of Names" each had something new, whether the book as a whole worked or not, and just last year "The Silence of the Girls" and "Circe" set a pretty high bar.

I'm not picky, I'm open to reading these stories from any angle, it doesn't matter what story they tell. I don't care if it stays true to the original myth or not. I just want to read a good story. "The Silence of the Girls" last year was a great example of what can be done when you take a story and change the point of view completely. Supposedly, "A Thousand Ships" set out to do just that. And yet, it did nothing.

The book lacked focus. It wanted to tell every story, and so it told no one's story. It didn't know what language it wanted to use, so the characters would shrug and roll their eyes and talk in a very casual, modern-feeling way; but then the author would add a few verbs like "essay" and "suffice" to try to make it sound formal and old. It sounded confused.

For a supposed feminist take on the Troyan War, virtually all of the women mentioned seem terrible, but then again, the characters are absolutely shallow, there's no depth to them or their stories. Even the titles of the chapters were wrong: the chapters called "The Trojan Women" are about Hecabe from the point of view of Hecabe; the chapter called "Hecabe" is about Cassandra.

Penelope doesn't talk of herself, her life or give a different take on the Odyssey; on the contrary, she simply tells the exact same story the exact same way, which doesn't even add anything to the rest of the story the book is struggling to tell. She's a watered down version of the Penelope in Atwood's "The Penelopiad", which isn't a great book but it is at least incredibly original and gives Penelope a strong, powerful voice.

By the way Calliope talks to Homer, or rather, the author talks to the reader, they seem to think this book is unafraid to speak the awful truths of war, but it is quite the opposite. It says it tells the story of all kinds of women, when it focuses only on goddesses and queens whining because they might not be the prettiest or they might have to clean their own clothes now their kingdom has fallen. Is that truly the awful side of the war? A former princess wearing rags? Are three goddesses getting naked in front of a young man really the powerful feminist take that the world had never read and needed to?

The only chapters I read without cringing were those of Andromache and Oenone, but I wouldn't say they were particularly good either. In the end, I can't see myself reading anything else from this author.

I was thrilled to be sent a copy of this book and I was not let down. Haynes has such an effortless writing style and allows the readers to really feel like they are their in Ancient Greece. One of the best retellings I’ve read

This book was a lovely and insightful read. As someone who has very limited knowledge of the battle of Troy and therefore an extremely limited knowledge of the women who were mentioned, I found this book to be really educational. I loved hearing about the Goddess and how the war came into fruition, I loved finding out about the Amazonian women, hearing what happened to the daughters of Hecabe and also Clytemnestra - I thought she was brilliant and well written! The parts that I couldn't stand were Penelope's parts, her parts were told in the form of a letter to Odysseus and I found them jarring and quite whiny for the most part. I really couldn't stand her part. Aside from that this is a well researched and beautifully curated book of the women of Troy and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for letting me review this title. Unfortunately this just was not the book for me and I only made it through about the first 80 pages. I don’t write reviews for books I don’t finish as I feel this would be unfair.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
This book treads ground covered by Pat Barker in The Silence of the Girls in that it tells the story of the women involved in the Trojan War. It covers the whole of the war from fatal decisions which precipitated it to the terrible aftermath. The story is told from the perspective of many of the women involved from queen to slave. There are short passages where some women appear on only one occasion and other women appear throughout the book. Each character is well drawn and I found Haynes writing very readable with imaginative ways of expressing her ideas.
“The women were waiting on the shore, gazing blank-eyed at the sea. The tang of dried green seaweed and bent brown reed stalks fought against the stench of smoke which filled their clothes and matted hair. After two days, the Greeks were finally completing their systematic looting of the blackened city, and as the women waited to find out who they now belonged to, they huddled around their queen as though her last embers might keep them warm.”
It is a book which manages to show the epic sweep of the war but also the personal tragedies of the women involved. It is a powerful feminist book but the characters are complex and not mere vehicles to carry the themes of the story. Many thanks to Net Galley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Amazingly engaging from the first page. A beautiful and engrossing retelling of Greek mythology in a way that feels modern and relevant and new all at once. Well worthy of its shortlisting for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for this e-copy in return for my honest review. A fresh take on a tale as old as time. Beautifully written. A must read for fans of Pat Barker and Madeline Miller.

Haynes begins her novel with the explicit and noble mission to give voice to women from Greek mythology – many of whom were only ever portrayed as minor, unheroic and simplistic characters. This is a necessary and much-welcome endeavour because, aside from the feminist point of view this adds to these male-dominated tales written by men, telling the story from the women’s perspective gives a rich opportunity for retelling these classic stories and shows there is still so much more to say about them. The novel begins with the muse Calliope being asked to inspire an old male poet by singing to him. She bargains for a trinket, but also insists he relate the stories of the women involved. Thus we get tales of the fall of Troy, the journey of Odysseus, the battles of Achilles, the revenge dealt to Agamemnon and the deities who intervened (or interfered) with the struggles of the mortals. But all these are told from the perspectives of Clytemnestra, Helen, Penelope, Thetis, Hecabe, Polyxena, Calliope, Eris, Gaia and many other women.

In some ways this feels like a greatest hits from Greek mythology as many of the events portrayed are well known. There are notable exceptions such as the tale of Hector’s wife Andromache which I was less familiar with. But what’s so clever is that Haynes develops an overall narrative to the motivations which influence many of these events. The mortals may feel like they are steering events, but it’s the deities who play them against each other as they bicker and squabble amongst themselves. I found it quite funny how the author shows so much carnage and chaos coming out of a petty battle amongst a group of goddesses. So even though this novel’s aim is to give voice to women it doesn’t idealize them because, of course, many of the female characters involved are motivated as much by spite, selfishness or cruelty as they are motivated at other times by magnanimity or kindness. This made the novel really dynamic, fun and suspenseful.

The trouble is that there’s been several retellings of this mythology in the past few years including “Circe”, “The Silence of the Girls” and “House of Names”, many of which have covered the same events. Of course, Haynes gives a different perspective to the stories and differently portrays the characters involved. But there were moments while reading this when I felt I’d read it before because there’s certain architecture and details to the tales which naturally overlap. And it’s certainly no fault of the author that she happens to have been caught in this zeitgeist of retellings or that her novel is the one I happened to read after all these others but it did detract from my enjoyment of the novel. My other main issue with the book was that there were so many characters involved it got somewhat confusing keeping them straight - I’m grateful a list of characters with descriptions was included at the beginning of the novel so I could occasionally refer to it. Nevertheless, it was still a pleasure to read this book and I felt like I got a lot out of it.

I think Haynes is excellent at balancing humour and poignancy in the way she relates these tales. Great fun is made at the expense of the deities and the male heroes’ arrogance and pomposity. But there are also moments of heartbreak and insight such as when its observed how language is also a victim of war because “when a city was sacked everything within it was destroyed right down to its words”. This gives a new perspective on history as well as mythology. But the strongest message of all is that heroic acts aren’t just made by men who are turned into statues and immortalized in stories which get retold through the ages. Penelope remarks how “The bards all sing of the bravery of heroes and the greatness of deeds. It is one of the few elements of your story on which they all agree. But no one sings of the courage required by those of us who are left behind.” This novel cleverly proves how the heroes of war aren’t only those who are fighting on the front lines.