The story of the Trojan War told by two of its most important, yet often overlooked, characters: Briseis, the slave girl Agamemnon and Achilles fought over, and Krisayis (Shakespeare’s Cressida) promised to the Gods but lover of a prince. Also very present are the Gods themselves, playing with lives, betting on battles and arguing amongst themselves. It is a well-known tale, moving, frightening, bloody. This re-telling shows a feminine side, away from the battles but still dependent on their outcome. It is an engrossing world, easy to fall into. As spies, lovers, slaves and prophets these women of Troy show themselves the equal of the more famous men. Even if you know the story well this is still an entrancing read.
Three thousand years ago a war took place that gave birth to legends - to Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. It was a war that made - and destroyed - both men, a war that shook the very foundations of the world. But what if there was more to this epic conflict? What if there was another, hidden tale of the Trojan War that had yet to be told? Now is that time - time for the women of Troy to tell their story. Thrillingly imagined and startlingly original, For the Most Beautiful reveals the true story of true for the first time. The story of Krisayis, daughter of the Trojans' High Priest, and of Briseis, princess of Pedasus, who fight to determine the fate of a city and its people in this ancient time of mischievous gods and mythic heroes. In a novel full of passion and revenge, loyalty and betrayal, bravery and sacrifice, Emily Hauser breathes exhilarating new life into one of the greatest legends of all - in a story that has waited millennia to be told.
'Once in a while something comes along that's so utterly right, so necessary for now, that you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Emily Hauser's stunning debut novel For the Most Beautiful fits this space: a novel that re-imagines the oldest of territories in the freshest of ways - we all grow up learning the story of Helen, whose beauty launched a thousand ships, but why has nobody thought to tell the story of the fall of Troy from the viewpoints of the women central to the action ... Anyway, it's here now, and it's beautiful: rich, fluid prose combined with a sense of time and place that brings ancient Troy wildly, raucously, passionately alive and tells at last the stories of those who really mattered.' -- MANDA SCOTT, bestselling author of Boudica and Into the Fire
'In this her sparkling debut novel classicist Emily Hauser offers a fresh take on the old but living legend spun so artfully in Homer's Iliad. By exploring and exposing their feelings, motivations and thoughts she puts us into the shoes of two key female characters that the original epic poem left tantalisingly undeveloped. Through the rich inner lives of Briseis and Krysayis Ms Hauser not only tells a ripping good story but also causes us to reflect anew on the meanings of war, especially as that affects and afflicts women' -- PAUL CARTLEDGE, Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge
Author
About Emily Hauser
Born in Brighton and brought up in Suffolk, Emily Hauser studied Classics at Cambridge where she was taught by Mary Beard. She then went to Harvard as a Fulbright Scholar and now studies and teaches at Yale, where she is completing her PhD. For the Most Beautiful - the first book in the Golden Apple trilogy - is her debut novel.
