There is much I could write about this book, sitting as I am only hours after I first opened its pages. There is a sense of loss that accompanies its ending. I would not say I like Briseis, but I do respect her, and as I wade inevitably back into the stories of victorious men (unavoidable, in my line of research), I will think fondly of the brief reprieve Barker's telling offered. I hope that much will be written about this book, this unique reception and telling of a 3000 year old tale, about the raising of voices silenced by time. I hope that it will be studied in much the same way as we study the Iliad - or at least along side it - for we should always be mindful of the silences, of the voices history has tried to bury.