Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Adele Geras takes the story of the Iliad, and while recreating it in way that mingles high adventure, tragedy, humour and fatalism, focuses specifically on the fates of five young people and is essentially a romance set in the framework of the Trojan War.
While the war rages, and Hector leads the Trojan armies in protection of the cities walls against the Greek hordes of Agamemnon, the goddess of desire Aphrodite plays a cruel trick, as is the habit of the Greek gods to toy with the lives of mortals, on two young Trojan sisters, the strong-willed yet gentle Xanthe, and the quiet and spiritual Marpessa by making them fall in love with the same young man, the warrior Alastor.. Meanwhile the stable hand Iason is in love with Xanthe, and Xanthe's friend Polyxena passionately loves Iason . But we also get to see the great events of the Iliad, such as the slaying of Hector by Achilles, and his desecration of Hector's body by dragging it around the gates of Troy, in his chariot, and the delivery of the wooden Horse to Troy leading to the horrific genocide of Troy that we read about at the end-after all this story is about war as much as about romance.
We read about the characters of Helen, Paris, Hector, Adrymache, Priam and the myriad of gods and goddesses and the author's own unique interpretation of them. What follows is an absorbing and sensitive read, if not quite an epic.