Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy by Margaret George

Category: Biographical Novel Grade: B

Margaret George is, without a doubt, the best biographical novelist out there. Her books are typically huge - 800 page plus and really bring her subjects to life. She's done masterful jobs on Henry the VIII, Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra and, most recently, Mary Magdelen. Her research is impeccable and the books are all readable immersions in the life and times of her subject.

Her latest, though, is a little bit of an odd duck. Fortunately, Helen of Troy is as well written and, in many ways, as entertaining as her previous books. The problem (which she discusses herself in an author's note at the end) is that Helen of Troy is more a mythical, than a historical person. There's no strong evidence that these stories, portrayed so vividly in the Iliad and the Odyssey, actually happened. In addition, these stories, which George is retelling, contain a lot of material that relate to the interaction between the gods of the day and the mortals in the story. George faced the decision of whether to pitch this story as a complex story about people - Helen, Achilles, Odysseus, Menelaus, Paris and other's familiar to anybody who has studied the classics - or to more closely reflect Homer's world of active gods. George chose to fall somewhere in the middle, but Zeus, Aphrodite and all their cohorts do play a visible roll in the book. Ultimately, what you end up with is book that can't quite decide whether its a history or a fantasy. For this reason, I don't think this book measures up to her past efforts. However, if you enjoy reading about this period of time, and you can't bring yourself to tackle Homer, it's still a good book.