'A Thousand Ships' by Natalie Haynes

This beautifully written novel captures the heartbreaking aftermath of the Trojan war through the eyes of the forgotten heroes and victims of the war: the women.

It is impossible to write a synopsis for such a complex and perceptive novel. Haynes masterfully combines and interweaves the stories of the women whose lives have been touched by the Trojan War. The episodic structure enables her to tell the story of all the women, including the Trojan, Greek, immortal women. She does not stop there, and we are even granted the perspective of Penthesilea, the Amazon queen and Briseis, a Greek concubine from Lyrnessus. The narrative roughly follows the Trojan women, with the stories of the other women introduced by them.

“A war does not ignore half the people whose lives it touches. So why do we?”

Summary review:

I absolutely loved Haynes retelling of the Trojan War and its aftermath. I was unsure at first whether so many stories would be able to fit together in a cohesive way, but Haynes' structure is so powerful because it almost overwhelmes you with the realisation of just how catastrophic the Trojan War was for the lives of so many people who are fleetingly mentioned in the Iliad and other ancient texts. Each story encapsulated the raw feelings of desperate loss, revenge and courage. I would recommend this to everyone and anyone, however I would suggest reading up on the original texts before hand to get the most out of the novel.

Rating: 4.4/5

An Indepth Look: Spoilers!

One of the best thing about Haynes' A Thousand Ships is that it lives up to its promise. When I first read the blurb I must admit I found it hard to believe that anyone could write a novel about all of the women touched by the Trojan War, but Haynes did exactly that. And not only did she do it, she did it magnificently. There were no issues with fluidity, each story melted into one another seamlessly and you almost forgot that you were beginning with each new chapter. The return to the Trojan Women throughout the novel provided the various stories with direction, which really enabled the whole concept to work as well as it did. The interjections of Calliope, the Muse of Epic, who is rarely if ever mentioned by name in original texts, were sarcastic, colloquial and brutal. She is the voice who stands up for the forgotten women throughout the text and her voice is written in such a way that it is relatable to the modern reader, making it stand apart from the rest of the novel.

Each character experienced tragedy in the novel, and I imagine the variety of tragedies will touch readers differently. Mothers may find Andromache having to lose her son in the most horrific and barbaric way the most upsetting story of the novel, wives may find the patience of Penelope the most frustrating or interesting, but it was the misery of Laodamia that really stuck with me. She almost fatefully knew how her husband was going to die. A brave man, but he was more concerned with his perceived courage than returning to his wife. To me, she felt abandoned for the quest of glory. Haynes' skill allowed me to feel like I was watching her hopeless mourning first hand. Her tragic suicide, even after the help of the kind blacksmith, really pinpointed the destruction left behind from war and how the women really had been abandoned.

Penelope's letters were also a great point of fascination. In mythology, she is depicted as the devoted wife, who weaves the endless tapestry waiting for Odysseus to come home. Although Haynes does stay true to Penelope's devoted character, she does it with realistic frustration. Her address to her husband becomes less endearing and she even finishes one letter with 'wife/widow', which particularly resonated with me, another abandoned woman! But this time, she was not abandoned by a brave man giving his life on the battlefield. Instead Odysseus sleeps with Circe and Calypso, delaying his journey home by eight years. No wonder Penelope is frustrated. Most women in this day and age would have given up. Really, Odysseus does not deserve her.

Furthermore, when revenge takes hold, Haynes does an equally brilliant job of making the reader feel like murder is justified. Of course, I speak of Clytemnestra. As she plots the murder of her husband Agamemnon with her lover, his despised cousin Aegisthus, I did not hesitate to think that it was wrong (but yes murder is bad, folks!) but instead felt only sympathy for the loss of her daughter Iphigenia, through the trickery of Odysseus. We also feel intense sorrow for Cassandra, condemned to a life of visions that no one will believe, purely because she refused to sleep with Apollo. Perhaps this resonates particularly in the modern age on the backdrop of the MeToo movement. Haynes really does masterfully bring these characters to life, in such a way that the reader cannot help but connect with their pain and tragedy.

What perhaps is worse than the philandering men who abandon their wives, is the attitude of the gods towards the mortals. Hera, Aphrodite and Athena argue like children over who is the most beautiful, with Aphrodite recklessly beginning a war by offering Helen to Paris as encouragement to be crowned most beautiful. They indifferently pick their favourite mortals and the whole thing smells of spolit children playing a game with plenty of tantrums along the way. It makes it nearly impossible to sympathise with any of the gods.

The only things I would say about A Thousand Ships as to why I didn't rate it even higher, was firstly that I found it wasn't a page turner, purely because of the structure and how short some of the stories were. That is not to say they weren't written beautifully. The other reason is that personally, I think the character of Helen was misrepresented. Although I was intruiged by the power she enjoyed around men as the beautiful daughter of Zeus, I think Haynes implyed that she went willingly with Paris to Troy. (Classics student things:) in the Iliad, I think there is enough evidence to argue that Helen was forced to go with Paris at the behest of Aphrodite. She never seems happy to be in Troy or with Paris. Indeed, she even refuses to sleep with him and begins to argue with Aphrodite, which doesn't end well for her. I think ultimately Helen is blamed for a lot more than she is responsible for, and I believe that is why Priam is kind to her. Not all women are innocent victims in life, but I think Helen's tragedy has been morphed into one of victim-blaming.

Overall, I felt like Haynes' retellings of these mythological characters was so real, it captured the truth about the barbaric nature of the Trojan War and its aftermath. The sacrifices and burdens placed upon the women is explored with raw, emotional prose that encapsulates flawlessly why the stories of these women must finally be told.

About the Author

Natalie Haynes read Classics at Christ's College, Cambridge University. She is also the author of novels The Amber Fury and The Children of Jocasta, as well as other non-fiction books. She writes for the Guardian and is frequently on BBC Radio 4. In her broadcasting career, she has her own series Natalie Haynes Stands Up for Classics, of which six series are available on BBC Sounds. Check it out!