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The Song of Troy

colleen mccullough

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The tragic and terrible drama of the war between Greeks and Trojans, the long siege of Troy, and the impact of one woman's beauty on the fate of two nations, is played out again in this dazzling novel based on Homer's Iliad.

Here is the enchanting Helen, who we first meet as a spoiled teenager and whose passion for the handsome, reckless Paris leads to the betrayal of her husband, King Menelaus, and the fall of the House of Troy. Here is powerful King Agamemnon with his terrifyingly ambitious wife Klytemnestra and his soothsaying mistress Kassandra. We meet Odysseus, doomed to wander the Aegean for twenty long years; brave Achilles, who is haunted by the mad shade of his mother; the heroes Hektor and Ajax, and many more.

Chapter by chapter the narrative is handed from one character to another as the long years of siege, bloody battles, love and death unfold and the gods exact their retribution. With extraordinary vividness Colleen McCullough engages our sympathy for each character and gives this ancient saga a contemporary sense of urgency and excitement.

An unputdownable read and the best possible way to introduce a new generation of readers to one of the greatest stories ever told.

483 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1998

This edition

Format
483 pages, Paperback
Published
August 3, 1998 by Orion
ISBN
9780752817057
ASIN
0752817051
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • Odysseus

    Odysseus

    A legendary Greek king of Ithaca and a hero of Homers epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homers Iliad.Husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, gu...

  • Menelaus

    Menelaus

    In Greek mythology, Menelaus (Ancient Greek: Μενέλαος, Menelaos) was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and Aerope, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and, accordin...

  • Paris

    Paris

    ...

  • Hector of Troy

    Hector Of Troy

    Hector is a mythological warrior and prince of Troy of Greek mythology. He is one of the central figures in Homers Iliad, where he is depicted as the most noble and courageous of men. He was later considered one of the finest examples of the chivalr...

  • Priam

    Priam

    Priam (Greek Πρίαμος Príamos) was the son of Laomedon and was the king of Troy. He became king after Laomedon and all of Priams brothers were killed by Heracles in the first sack of Troy. Priam himself was the father, by his wife Hecuba and other wo...

  • Patroclus

    Patroclus

    In Greek mythology, Patroclus, or Patroklos (Ancient Greek: Πάτροκλος Patroklos "glory of the father"), was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles beloved cousin. He followed Achilles to Troy as his brother-in-arms, ...

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About the author

Profile Image for colleen mccullough

colleen mccullough

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Colleen Margaretta McCullough was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being The Thorn Birds and Tim.

Raised by her mother in Wellington and then Sydney, McCullough began writing stories at age 5. She flourished at Catholic schools and earned a physiology degree from the University of New South Wales in 1963. Planning become a doctor, she found that she had a violent allergy to hospital soap and turned instead to neurophysiology – the study of the nervous system's functions. She found jobs first in London and then at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

After her beloved younger brother Carl died in 1965 at age 25 while rescuing two drowning women in the waters off Crete, a shattered McCullough quit writing. She finally returned to her craft in 1974 with Tim, a critically acclaimed novel about the romance between a female executive and a younger, mentally disabled gardener. As always, the author proved her toughest critic: "Actually," she said, "it was an icky book, saccharine sweet."

A year later, while on a paltry $10,000 annual salary as a Yale researcher, McCullough – just "Col" to her friends – began work on the sprawling The Thorn Birds, about the lives and loves of three generations of an Australian family. Many of its details were drawn from her mother's family's experience as migrant workers, and one character, Dane, was based on brother Carl.

Though some reviews were scathing, millions of readers worldwide got caught up in her tales of doomed love and other natural calamities. The paperback rights sold for an astonishing $1.9 million.

In all, McCullough wrote 11 novels.

Source: http://www.people.com/article/colleen...

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
28(28%)
4 stars
34(34%)
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38(38%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
SuperJohnDoe
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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So I recently reread The Song of Achilles and this reminded me that I read another myth retelling with a similar name many years ago. Since I only had vague memories of what exactly happened in this story, I decided to give it another try. Long story short, The Song of Achilles is the superior version by far. The Song of Troy could have been a somewhat decent retelling if it hadn't been for the abysmal portrayal of all the female characters. The novel is told from the perspective of many different characters and yet there are only two female characters that get at least one chapter from their point if view (Helen and Briseis). What's worse is that none of these women have any agency, things only happen TO them and not BECAUSE of them. They seem to be there mainly to praise a man when he loves them and complain when he doesn't. Personally I found the portrayal of Iphigeneia, though not a pov character, to be the worst. Pretty disappointing since the author herself is a woman.
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Mashu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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4.25/5
J'ai énormément aimé ce livre qui retrace de façon traditionnelle la guerre de Troie en restant fidèle au mythe dans l'ensemble.
Néanmoins:
-je relève quelques longueurs (bien caractéristique de la guerre qui a duré 10 ans finalement) avec certains chapitres vraiment longs
-après avoir lu "Le silence des vaincues" ou la parole est donnée aux femmes et particulièrement à Briséis, difficile de la retrouver dans le rôle de femme éperdument amoureuse de son ravisseur (meme si évidemment on préfère qu'elle ne se fasse pas maltraiter/v*oler etc...)
-je ne suis pas sûre qu'il convienne à quelqu'un qui n'a jamais rien lu concernant la guerre de Troie au vu du nombre d'informations et de personnages dans ce récit
Malgré tout c'est un très bon livre qui reste assez dynamique avec les changements de point de vu, même si ça manque à mon sens cruellement de point de vu féminin qui auraient été très pertinents parfois
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Jusadyyd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Writing from various characters’ viewpoints, both Greek and Trojan, may have meant to swing our sympathies from Greece to Troy, and back again, but, because of how the author wrote them, I came away not caring for any of the characters. It’s a major flaw in an otherwise satisfying novel. I need someone to root for.

I suppose having read Gemmell’s trilogy about Troy only months ago, I couldn’t help but compare the two. In Gemmell’s books, Aeneas was the obvious hero, though there were others. Here, he thinks only of himself, grasping for the crown of Troy. I suppose I prefer the Latin tradition of this character, as opposed to the Greek, which is what the author uses.

So while, yes, Paris and Helen and self-indulgent, the same can be said of all of the major characters here. The story couldn’t help but be interesting, and I did like that we get both sides’ stories, but would it have hurt to have at least one major character who thought just a little bit less of himself?
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dvt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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[2.5]

i havw so much to say about this book

i typed out a whole rant about the very little pros in comparison to my long list of cons but decided to just take it all away

odysessus and diomedes are the only redemption in this book. don’t read it for the portrayal of characters like helen, achilles, patroclus, hektor, anyone.

ur gonna be disappointed lol

also TW: lipless achilles and it’s one thousand references
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r1z0_n
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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the story of the Trojan war told in a manner more akin to today`s readers. so if you don`t have the stomach for The Iliad this could act as a nice substitute.

it is epic in scope (as it should be) beggining with the young years of the many important characters, and then after many stories set them off to the war. the war in itself is also long and with many tribulations but this is not a complaint, since the book delivers what the movie failed to.

also of interest you should see that each chapter is narrated by a different character, this is pretty engaging and keeps you hooked since you wanna know how some of these characters lived all the classic events of the Trojan War

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Letters_To_Egypt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I would like to start out by saying, when I write a review on historical fiction, I don't like to reveal much about the story line. I want the reader to enjoy and discover the story line for themselves, if study history, legends based on history I want you to form your own opinions. That's the fun and challenge in reading historical fiction, discovering what is fiction and what is based on historical events.

This is a book about the face that launched a thousand ships. And why did the Greek kings go to war over a woman, or were they using this an excuse for war.

This is a good book with a little different story line on the characters from Homers account. All the characters are there. Agamemnon, Menelaus who is Helens husband, Paris and Helen. Achilles and Hector, Ajax, Odysseus and many more. The story is told from the perspective of the participants by chapter. The story flows rather well, there is a lot of action and battle scenes. My favorite two are the single combat confrontations of Hector vs. Ajax, and Hector and Achilles. I really like how the author portrays Hector,. In the book Achilles says that Hector is a pure warrior.

Over all this is a good book and a must read for the enthusiasts of the Trojan War.


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Bendy_the_tomato
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Greatly enjoyed this novel!
Being a hardcore fan of McCullough already, I've expected much and, surprisingly, I got more.
As expected she once again succeeded in bringing to life a very ancient, and mainly forgotten, world of a legend, but she did more than this for me with the ever-changing, first-person point of view.
Deserves 5 stars in my opinion :)
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AnowBegins
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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It has been a few years since I read this book, but I do remember that I love this story. I actually happened upon this book by accident and decided it was worth reading after having a quick browse of the first "chapter" - I had never read a book by this author nor did I know a great deal about the Trojan War.

I was sucked in to this tale, and loved reading it from each characters point of view. In fact I have just decided I'm going to pull it from the bookshelf and read it again!!
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