The Siege of Troy

Under German occupation, a Greek village has no teacher for its children, until one day a woman appears.

Everything about this teacher is mysterious; the fragments of information that her students piece together fail to explain who she is. She speaks fluent German, she takes long solitary walks at night to visit a friend in a nearby village, she spends time with a handsome German fighter pilot. But these facts lose their importance when Miss and her students take shelter from British bombers in a cave and she calms them by telling them the story of The Iliad.

Homer was a storyteller, and Miss shares his gift. Soon the reality of World War II fades for the enthralled students. Every day, through Miss's words, the heroes of the Trojan War assume their forgotten glory, flaring into life as flawed and courageous fighters, unbuffered by divine protection. The invading Achaeans are far from home; in their walled city the Trojans are under constant attack. Both sides meet on the battlefield, immersed in a savage, relentless war that pits the soldiers in single combat, fighting with spears, swords and stones, each facing a brutal death.

Pulled from clouds of myth, The Iliad's blood and tragedy is revealed in its true horror; neither Homer nor Miss allows the story to end in triumph.

"War is a source of tears... there can be no victors," Miss tells her students. Her words, and her own shadowed story, will haunt readers of The Siege of Troy. --Janet Brown, author and former bookseller

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