Wonderfully researched, the story transverses the time of the Napoleonic Wars when a young heiress marries the British Ambassador to Constantinople and Greece two millenna earlier. The Ambassador, Lord Elgin, is determined to get permission to deconstruct the Parthenon and Athena’s Shrine, his beautiful and charming wife, Mary, helps him to obtain the firman . This will eventually cost him his fortune, his wife’s fortune and eventually his marriage. Two thousand years earlier, Apasia, a female philosopher and courtesan assists Pericles in defending the idea of building the exquisite monuments for the glory of Athens.
The descriptions of life in early Greece are fascinating; the powerful notion that the Greek Gods rule all aspects of life and that Athena was responsible for all good and directly punished all bad played a central part in the theme. Interestingly, the novel described a trial in Athens where Apasia is accused of insulting the gods, the manner in which she is accused and her limited defense because she was a woman. Mary Elgin is also tried in court for adultery and as an "unfit" mother.
The author, Karen Essex, has taken characters out of history and put them into a splendid tale of romance and adventure. This was an excellent read! Ms Essex’s other novels include very strong heroines.
The descriptions of life in early Greece are fascinating; the powerful notion that the Greek Gods rule all aspects of life and that Athena was responsible for all good and directly punished all bad played a central part in the theme. Interestingly, the novel described a trial in Athens where Apasia is accused of insulting the gods, the manner in which she is accused and her limited defense because she was a woman. Mary Elgin is also tried in court for adultery and as an "unfit" mother.
The author, Karen Essex, has taken characters out of history and put them into a splendid tale of romance and adventure. This was an excellent read! Ms Essex’s other novels include very strong heroines.
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