The Memoirs of Helen of Troy

By Amanda Elyot

Book Overview

In this lush, compelling novel of passion and loss, Helen of Troy, a true survivor, tells the truth about her life, her lovers, and the Trojan War. This is the memoir that she has written-her legendary beauty still undimmed by age. Gossips began whispering about Princess Helen from the moment of her birth. A daughter of the royal house of Sparta, she was not truly the progeny of King Tyndareus, they murmured, but of Zeus, king of the gods. Her mother, Queen Leda, a powerful priestess, was branded an adulteress, with tragic consequences. To complicate matters, as Helen grew to adulthood her beauty was so breathtaking that it overshadowed even that of her jealous sister, Clytemnestra, making her even more of an outcast within her own family. So it came as something of a relief to her when she was kidnapped by Theseus, king of Athens, in a gambit to replenish his kingdom's coffers. But Helen fell in love with the much older Theseus, and to his surprise, he found himself enamored of her as well. On her forced return to Sparta, Helen was hastily married off to the tepid Menelaus for the sake of an advantageous political alliance. Yet even after years of marriage, the spirited, passionate Helen never became the docile wife King Menelaus desired, and when she fell in love with another man-Paris Alexandros, the prodigal son of King Priam of Troy-Helen unwittingly set the stage for the ultimate conflict: a war that would destroy nearly all she held dear. I learned thatI was different when I was a very small girl: when the golden curls, which barely reached my shoulders at the time, began to turn the color of burnished vermeil. Your grandmother Leda, whom you never knew, told me that I was a child of Zeus. Since I thought my father's name was Tyndareus, her words upset me. Seeing my pink cheeks marred by tears of confusion, my mother handed me a mirror of polished bronze and asked me to study my reflection. "Do you look like me?" she asked. I nodded, noting in my own skin the exquisite fairness of her complexion, and her hair the same shade as mine that tumbled like flowing honey past the hollow of her back. "And do you resemble my husband Tyndareus?" she said to me. I looked in the mirror and then looked again. For several minutes I remember expecting the mirror to show me my father's face, but Tyndareus was olive complected where I was not, his nose like the beak of a falcon where my own was straight and fine-boned, and his cheekbones were hollow and slack where, even then, beneath a child's rosy plumpness, mine were high and prominent. "It's time for me to tell you everything," my mother said . . . -FromThe Memoirs of Helen of Troy

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307209989
• ISBN13: 9780307209986
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

The Memoirs of Helen of Troy

This is another book that l have liked on Troy. It is more believable than other books. Helen speaks about her life and how she also suffered before she left with Paris to Troy. There is a lot of dirty and cruel things that happened to her in her life that explains her reasons to be the downfall of Troy.

Myself, I Loved It

This was a very clever (if not necessarily seamless) weaving of classical myth into a new legend of the infamous Helen. The first person narrative worked for me, because the main thing Helen had going for her was her incomparable beauty. Now, how are you going to capture that in words? I'm not sure you can, but the author did something even more intriguing--she put us in Helen's mind. There, we were able to detect that this was no woman of great ethics and wisdom and compassion. How could the reader expect Helen of Troy to reach the level of, for instance, Jane Austen? The very way the book was written was an insight into Helen's character. And the character is woefully self-centered? Well of course, she's Helen of Troy. What can we expect?

Fascinating-page turner

This book was truly a great book. The storyline followed the Iliad with some creative twists and turns added in by the author. The Romance aspect was played out perfectly, so it didn't seem like a love story the whole time. The action was good, and the author was very descriptive. Over all its an interesting story that will leave wanting more.

Helen reborn!

Helen of Troy is one of the most enigmatic and ethereal characters in mythology. The search to find the real Helen has been attempted numerously. She has been branded as either a princess, queen, harlot, whore and every other mysogynistic word in the dictionary. Finally a novel about a woman written by a woman. This is neither a feminist account nor a historical account. The book weaves together myth and magic and in the end creates an extremely engrossing novel. Five stars and beyond.

Luminously intelligent indeed

One reviewer referred to this book as "luminously intelligent", and it's easy to see why. Amanda Elyot gives one of history's most celebrated women a voice that is not only aptly passionate but distinctively perceptive as well. Her Helen is keenly aware of both her mortality and the divinity she feels in her blood, and Elyot narrates her loves and adventures with a deft, entertaining writing style and a powerful sense of both irony and desire. The author's deep respect for the historical universe she evokes is palpable and impressive; both the tone and the content of the research reflect a love of her subject and a desire to share it with vivacious pleasure. Those who are familiar with classic historical fiction (such as that of Mary Renault and others) about the heroes and heroines of Greek myth will welcome this witty, sexy entry into those Aegean literary waters. Those who may be slower to recognize how beautifully observed are the nuanced details of this mythic period are likely to enjoy this fascinating feminist account in any case, both because the story itself is as sensational as ever after all these centuries, and because this particular telling of it has such verve and style.

Beautiful, Action Packed, Sexy

As the daughter of a mother enamored of Greek mythology, history and literature I was immediately attracted to this stunning new book, The Memoirs of Helen of Troy by Amanda Elyot. Ms. Elyot has captured not only Helen's beauty and passion -but has given her a most elegant, eloquent voice. It is clear that she is a devotee of all things Greek as she recreates the total ambience and lifestyle of Helen's era. She truly makes you feel a part of the action -whether it's the ravages of war or the intimacy of the bedroom. I have always known the story of Helen of Troy -my mother named me after Helen's mother because of her interest in mythology. My name is immediately associated with the Swan. So I just had to read this newest version of the age old tale to see how Amanda Elyot fit all the pieces together. I'm so glad I did. It is a rich and wonderfully woven tapestry of words and images. A perfect holiday gift book.