Pat Barker, the Booker Prize-winning author of The Regeneration Trilogy, wraps up her Women of Troy series with a quick-witted and somewhat upper-crusty soap opera take on several generations of the female denizens of the ancient Greek city.

A story of bold twists and turns, THE VOYAGE HOME takes us deep into the lives and lies of the women who surround Agamemnon, the Greek king, who enslaves young Ritsa to attend to his queen. Barker brings a very clear and concise voice to the psychological and economic strategies that help these ladies of the ancient world find security and, ultimately, agency against all odds.

"THE VOYAGE HOME works hard to find the compelling words and wisdom that the women in these tales can offer, while the dramatic turns froth up quite a soapy series of events that will hold readers in its grasp."

The story goes that Ritsa accompanies Cassandra, the king’s mistress, to Mycenae. Cassandra is returning to take her rightful place at the behest of the king, whose legal wife, Clytemnestra, understands too well what that means for both of them. The journey is a dangerous one, not to mention monotonous, until Cassandra, who has been gifted prophetic abilities after a kiss from Apollo, begins to spin her tales for all who will listen. Apollo, though, has ruined her reputation, telling the people around them that she will claim to have powers that exist only in her mind. From this state of confusion, she continues to speak her truth, including a warning to Agamemnon that carnage awaits him. He parties heartily on the voyage, drowning out her cautious pleas. None of the shipmates take heed of her words either.

What follows is a story about women clamoring for the same attention, for survival, and for new quests where old ones have faltered and left them dispirited and weakened. The responsibility of girl power in the novel weighs heavily on Ritsa, who wants to help Cassandra find her forever home amongst the ruins of Agamemnon’s cruel and unusual lashing out. Clytemnestra has her own set of issues with her husband, and another young woman begins to shadow this dysfunctional family, bringing with her a layer of mystery and pain to be overcome by the wits and wiles of the feminine spirits all about Mycenae.

There is much to recommend here. While each book can be read on its own, the trilogy benefits from the reader’s knowledge of the continuing feminist take on the world of ancient mythological Greece that Barker has concocted, filled with myth and history in equal measure. Each character receives a decent amount of page time, and Barker gives us a particularly modern look at the relationships between men and women and amongst the women. To see the stories that have been passed down for ages expressed through an entirely open and incisive perspective is a unique take and one that has gained Barker quite a following.

THE VOYAGE HOME works hard to find the compelling words and wisdom that the women in these tales can offer, while the dramatic turns froth up quite a soapy series of events that will hold readers in its grasp. It is a perfect accompaniment to Barker’s other stories of ancient Greece, where the women were as scheming, emotional and generous as the men with whom their destinies lie.