When the time comes for her to be married, suitors come from across Greece to compete for her hand and she eventually chooses Menelaus, the younger brother of Agamemnon of Mycenae (who has already married Helen’s older sister Clytemnestra). Said to be the daughter of Zeus, who seduced her mother Leda in the form of a swan, Helen of Sparta is blessed – and cursed – with great beauty. While I could see that a lot of research had gone into it, it never developed the alluring sparkle and epic grandeur that I’d hoped for from the woman whose face launched a thousand ships.Įveryone knows the story. It’s the first of George’s books that I’ve read, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but I’m sorry to say that it doesn’t quite match up to Helen’s report on Elizabeth. Remembering that I had this novel on my shelf, I decided it was time to take the plunge (at 747 pages long, it’s quite a commitment). Although I bought this more than a year ago, I’ve only just got round to reading it, mainly because Helen recently reviewed another of Margaret George’s books, Elizabeth I.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |