The silence of the girls (2018)

Briseis's captivity changes the significance of the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon: the woman treated as a prize has an existence beyond their injured honour. Barker pays attention to the labour and relationships among women living in the Greek camp. It is a severe account of war and enslavement, well suited to comparing the Iliad's heroic reputation with the lives required to sustain it. Knowing the central dispute helps clarify what this shift of attention challenges.