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Natalie Haynes

A Thousand Ships Paperback – 23 July 2020

by Natalie Haynes (Author)

4,290 ratings

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Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

One of the Guardian's and TLS's 'Best Books of 2019'

In A Thousand Ships, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes retells the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective, for fans of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker.

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women embroiled in the legendary war.

Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, in A Thousand Ships Natalie Haynes puts the women, girls and goddesses at the centre of the story.

'With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War' – Madeline Miller, author of Circe

'A gripping feminist masterpiece' – Deborah Frances-White, The Guilty Feminist

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Picador
Publication date

23 July 2020
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

13 x 2.5 x 19.7 cm
ISBN-10

1509836217
ISBN-13

978-1509836215
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Product description

Review

A gripping feminist masterpiece -- Deborah Frances-White, The Guilty Feminist

With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War. Her thoughtful portraits will linger with you long after the book is finished -- Madeline Miller, author of Circe

Natalie Haynesis swiftly becoming this generation’s Mary Renault; her retelling of the Trojan war from an all-female perspective, A Thousand Ships,is her best yet. ― Observer

Haynes is master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories ― Telegraph

Absorbing and fiercely feminist ― Guardian

The forgotten women are vividly brought to life in this moving, intelligent and witty book -- Martha Kearney, BBC Radio 4

Elegant, intelligent . . . Haynes combines a wide-ranging knowledge of the original myths with a gift for compelling narrative ― The Times

A sparkling narrative . . . A Thousand Ships blows the dust off the classics ― Washington Post

Haynes is the nation’s great muse, and her latest retelling of the story of Troy told from the perspective of Helen and the women of The Iliad is beautiful -- Adam Rutherford ― The Week

If you are new to myths, then this is a learned, well-fashioned introduction, with many shining moments of subtle power ― Spectator

A joy to read: fast paced, cracking with emotion and tension -- Professor Michael Scott

Here, in this treat of a book, the women take centre stage - and how brilliantly . . . Natalie Haynes brings them to witty, lyrical, scintillating life . . . A book to both savour and devour -- Suzannah Lipscomb

Breathtaking . . . Her writing isn’t merely clever, or elegant, or (at times) extremely funny - though it is all of those things. It’s also viscerally vivid. -- Catherine Nixey

This subversive reseeing of the classics is a many-layered delight ― Guardian

Haynes takes the baton from Renault and runs with it. Her modern take on antiquity is exquisitely informed without ever being research-heavy . . . Glorious! -- Damian Barr

Haynes expertly crafts an emotional and vivid historical tale with high stakes and female empowerment at its core ― Woman's Own

From the Back Cover

A Guardian and TLS book of the year

‘Haynes is master of her trade . . . She succeeds in breathing warm life into some of our oldest stories’ Telegraph

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, Creusa wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women embroiled in the legendary war.

Powerfully told from an all-female perspective, in A Thousand Ships Natalie Haynes puts the women, girls and goddesses at the centre of the story.

‘Absorbing and fiercely feminist’ Guardian

‘The forgotten women are vividly brought to life in this moving, intelligent and witty book’ Martha Kearney

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador; Main Market edition (23 July 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509836217
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509836215
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2.5 x 19.7 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 2,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2 in Epics
- 3 in War Poetry
- 9 in Greek & Roman

Customer reviews:
4,290 ratings

About the author

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Natalie Haynes

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Natalie Haynes is a writer, broadcaster, and classicist. She was once a stand-up comic, but retired when she realised she preferred tragedy to comedy. She has published three novels, The Amber Fury (The Furies - US) in 2014, The Children of Jocasta (2017) and A Thousand Ships (2019), which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020. She has also published two non-fiction book, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life (2010) and Pandora's Jar (2020). She also has a radio series, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, which is available on BBC Sounds and Audible.

Customer reviews

5 star		60%
4 star		28%
3 star		9%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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insomniac

A wonderful read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2019

Verified Purchase

Haynes has, to quote her Calliope: “...picked up the old stories and I have shaken them until the hidden women appear in plain sight."

This is a great read. It helped (me, anyway) that from other ancillary reading I’m beginning to get a handle on the Iliad and the Odyssey. Putting women firmly at the centre of everything (and men at the periphery), Haynes really fleshes out the female characters, giving them an inner life and drive if not agency and autonomy.

Her Trojan women stoically face their destinies, though their distress is well-written (especially the Andromache chapters), Penelope provides with mounting impatience a dryly humorous third-hand retelling of Odysseus’s adventures, and the goddesses are shown up for their petty jealousies and behaviour.

I enjoyed every page, every chapter, and appreciated the non-linear and multiple focalisation and narrators.

Thank you Natalie Haynes. I feel I know you from your books, radio appearances and times I’ve seen you at a British Museum event.

Sent from my iPhone

34 people found this helpful

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Lytton Grey

unusual perspectives

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 September 2020

Verified Purchase

For decades I have loved retellings of ancient myths, starting with Mary Renault's The King Must Die (about Theseus and the Minotaur), and this new book is very definitely one of the best. I'm currently rereading all my novels around the period of the Iliad and the Odyssey after my interest was reignited by reading Pat Barker's The Silence Of The Girls. So this fitted in neatly.

I notice I've always searched out unusual perspectives, the story told by one of the lesser characters. A Thousand Ships darts around dozens of the named women involved in the story of the Trojan Wars, interleaving their stories. Natalie Haynes explains how rich her material was in a brief video on Youtube (/watch?v=DKtT_u-wHek).

The author is massively well-informed as a classical scholar. Obviously, this is essential to guide us through the stories written by Homer nearly three thousand years ago! But she is also a stand-up performer so she is able to feed excitement and drama, humour and pathos to the reader in an almost relentless stream. Her writing has vitality and immediacy which brings these women to life. Their problems and desires are different to ours but Natalie Haynes makes us understand far more subtly than simply 'explaining'.

You may need your wits about you if your knowledge of the Iliad is sketchy (Helen of Troy had a face beautiful enough to launch a thousand ships etc.) but I suggest three ways to get the most out of this hugely enjoyable novel.
*** Use the list of characters which the book includes at the beginning
*** Find a map of the areas of the Ancient World you'll be visiting, such as one giving birthplaces of people in the Iliad (at the realmofhistory website)
*** Listen to the audiobook, read by the author herself, so you know how the various names of people and places should be pronounced!

15 people found this helpful

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Mr. William Shaffer

Magnificent Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 October 2019

Verified Purchase

Congratulations and abundant thanks to Natalie Haynes for writing this estra-ordinary magnificent masterpiece on the retelling of Troy through the experiences of all the women, mortals, goddesses and everything in-between. I was completely caught up in this saga that I have read so much about through many other books, ALWAYS from the point of view of the men. And that is so limiting and prevents great truths from being revealed. But no more. In A Thousand Ships, the reader experiences Troy, what led up to the war, the war itself and all the ensuing consequences in full glory and a depth of truth and understanding never before achieved through all other writers before Ms. Haynes came along.
Someone tried to tell the author that you cannot compare the pain and suffering of those who died in a war to those who stayed home because it is much worse to fight the war. What total nonsense! Pain and suffering is not limited by nor less valued because one is fighting or not fighting in a war. Everyone suffers in so many ways, and all experienced suffering is equal in its experience and equal in its need to be told.
The reader is given a vast array of women narrators -- Trojan women, Greek women, Goddesses, nymphs, The Furies -- and they ALL have magnificent tales and the deepest insights to share. Men who before were two-dimensional heroes or losers are given a fuller depiction, and the result is dazzling. Men you thought were great heroes were also filled with fear, ego, lust, greed, envy and jealousy and sometimes downright stupidity. Every character in the Trojan War, including the all too-humanlike gods and goddesses are so much more fascinating. The depth of character study in men and women, mortal and immortal is astounding. So much deepest truth of human nature is revealed in this expertly written novel. It deserves every literary prize that is available.
Bravo, Natalie Haynes! And thank you for giving humanity this incredible gift of insight, understanding and truth.

20 people found this helpful

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LarsLovesBooks

Fantastic Feminist Greek Mythology

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2021

Verified Purchase

I can’t help but compare ... this is the book Silence of the Girls wishes it could be in its wildest dreams. This is a masterpiece in comparison.

Read this in one sitting and I loved it! Very cleverly done. I love how unapologetically female centric it is - I mean it is guided by Calliope herself!

I liked how we get some the fleshing out of some of the major characters we know like Hecabe and Penelope but also get some obscure characters like Creusa and Laodamia to give some context about less popular aspects of the war.

I enjoyed the bits about the goddesses fighting and the engineering of it.

Cassandra’s story filled me with horror - that was the worst I think. Clymenstra’s story was a little confusing in the end. It wasn’t fully wrapped up for me or clear what happened/ why she did certain things.

All in great book that I can’t recommend enough.

6 people found this helpful

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Claire hershman

Not another take on the Trojan women

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 July 2019

Verified Purchase

Compared with pat barkers silence of the girls it’s hard to see how this book has added anything to the superb play by Euripides the Trojan women . Disappointed read. There are some great modern takes on the Trojan war this is not one of them

16 people found this helpful

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