In ‘The Silence of the Girls,’ Pat Barker Tells ‘The Iliad’ From a Woman’s Perspective

The novel is one of several books, including Chigozie Obioma’s ‘An Orchestra of Minorities,’ recasting Greek mythology in ways that speak to the present

Tobias Grey

Aug. 25, 2018 9:29 a.m. ET

Homer’s epic poem “The Iliad” opens with a dispute between Achilles and his commanding general, Agamemnon, over two young women.

Reading it centuries later, the writer Pat Barker says she was struck by how “the girls, who say nothing at all, are simply transferred like parcels. It seemed important to me to address that and try to fill in that silence.”

So...