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The Silence of the Girls
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton, Michael Fox
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
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The Silence of the Girls
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Summary
Shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel Award 2018
Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, read by Kristin Atherton and Michael Fox.
From the Booker Prize-winning author of Regeneration and one of our greatest contemporary writers on war comes a reimagining of the most famous conflict in literature - the legendary Trojan War.
The great city of Troy is under siege as Greek heroes Achilles and Agamemnon wage bloody war over a stolen woman. In the Greek camp, another woman is watching and waiting: Briseis. She was a queen of this land until Achilles sacked her city and murdered her husband and sons. Now she is Achilles' concubine: a prize of battle.
Briseis is just one among thousands of women backstage in this war - the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead - all of them voiceless in history. But, though no one knows it yet, they are just 10 weeks away from the death of Achilles and the fall of Troy, an end to this long and bitter conflict. Briseis will see it all - and she will bear witness.
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What listeners say about The Silence of the Girls
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- J. Mills
- 07-08-20
alternative view, savage story
brutally honest sounding, a different point of view from the usual Troy / Trojan / Helen stories
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-05-19
Powerful and absorbing
A wonderful book, evocative and original.
The narration was completely in keeping with the story
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C. R. Yule
- 09-06-19
Slightly spoiled by Michael Fox!
This is an extraordinary retelling of the Iliad. Seen through the eyes of the women captured during the Trojan war, its fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. It was spoilt for me by the the reading of Achilles part which is done badly by someone who sounds like he went to Eton and Sandhurst, not an accent I hear as heroic at all. But buy it for the story, its gripping.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Laurelle
- 10-12-18
A phenomenal testament to the human spirit.
Extraordinary on every level. The reader lives the story with every beautifully written word. Loved it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Newton-Harris Family
- 26-01-19
Brilliantly powerful
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, whether you have an interest in Troy, Greek Mythology or not.
It beautifully and often sorrowfully - but always powerfully - explores the untold stories of the other half of the people living and dying on the beach of Troy, those that histoory so often forgets; the women.
Should be a GCSE text!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Mair
- 01-08-20
Fascinating Wonderful Complex Read
The writing is wonderful, bringing to vivid life Troy and the Greek army attacking it. The research is immaculate, the characters full and rounded, the story rich with complex layers that make the reader step back and consider war, the relationships between women and men, between men and men and between friends and foe. The narration is superb, both readers draw you into this ancient world and show you it through the characters eyes. I love it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 20-05-20
Loved this book but...
I really enjoyed this book, although the male narrator was incredibly jarring. He didn't appear until at least half way through the book and his voice was not the voice we had come to expect from Achilles after listening to the lovely narration of Kristin Atherton.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Alza
- 16-03-20
Boring plot for an interesting premise
Even before the Trojan war, Briseis was miserable (she refers to her husband’s palace as a prison and talks of being forced into the marriage at 14 and bullied by her mother in law). She grows slightly more miserable with each beat of the plot that drags on rather pointlessly. She doesn’t seem to grow as a character or form any meaningful relationships along the way. Even in her relationships with Patroclus and the other women she’s not an active player, they just happen to her, as does everything else. Even Achilles’ emotions are more interesting than hers, but I don’t understand the purpose of him being made a POV character for a few of the chapters.
The technical quality of Baker’s writing is high though. Maybe if the story didn’t just centre on boring Briseis, but included the POVs of other women, Helen, Andromache, Chryseis, maybe Cassandra, maybe Hecuba, Silence of the girls would be a much more powerful book. Alas...
As an audiobook it is narrated well. I’m glad there is an option for faster playback (2X) as it is a very slow story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- AmazonCustomer
- 25-04-22
Amazing and thought provoking
This story is well told and thought provoking. By looking at the women’s stories Pat Barker brilliantly allows a glimpse into women’s lives both in classical times and now. Her understanding of trauma gives the characters depth.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Fly Me to the Moon
- 12-11-22
Shocking, heart-wrenching, brilliant
This story stayed with me for days afterwards. Beautifully written and read by both narrators.
Fantastic to hear this story from the female perspective which of course is very different and not often given.
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