Goddess of Yesterday

I'm no classicist, but I flatter myself that I know a bit more about ancient Greek history than the average Joe. But Cooney gave me a completely new perspective on the character of Helen, Paris and Menelaus. They became, for want of a better word, believable. As is so often the case, a wonderful book has been relegated to the YA shelves just because the protagonist is a young girl. Don't let that label keep you from reading this excellent tale. [Audiobook note: At first, I thought the narrator's voice was too deep for a young girl's. But once I got used to it, it did not impede my enjoyment. She does a first-rate narration.]

YA fantasy (minimal but seemingly real involvement of the gods) with a heroine who ends up pretending to be two different princesses in the course of surviving the violence of the Greek peninsula. Helen is a monster here: beautiful but careless of others at best, terrifying and fascinating. I found it very enjoyable.

Read this as a kid and it's one of my favorite historical fiction books and probably a catalyst for my lifelong interest in Greek mythology and history.

Content warning for mentions of rape and some gnarly deaths...which now makes me question why this book is in the juvenile fiction section of the library...but I guess I read it as a preteen and I'm mostly fine so

At the age of six Anaxandra (not Alexandra) is taken as a hostage from her family’s small island in the Aegean Sea, where her father is the chieftain. Anaxandra lives for the next six years on the Island of Siphnos with its king Nicander, as a playmate for Nicander’s crippled daughter, Callisto. When her new home is destroyed by pirates Anaxandra is the only person left living on the island. Menelaus, King of Sparta, rescues her and instead of becoming a slave she lies and takes the name of Callisto and becomes a princess in his court. His queen Helen is vain and mean and does not believe Anaxandra is Princess Callisto. When Helen leaves Sparta with Paris Anaxandra pretends to be Helen’s daughter Hermione, to save her and take show more care of the infant son of Helen, Pleis, whom Paris repeatedly attempts to kill. Anaxandra travels to another different kingdom and a new king, Priam of Troy, who unlike Helen treats her kindly. In Troy Anaxandra again makes friends as Callisto, and is torn between her loyalty between Menelaus and her new friends in Troy. After several attempts Anaxandra manages to get Pleis and herself past the battlefield to his father Menelaus. Once Pleis is safe Anaxandra admits that she is not Callisto, but because she has saved his only son, Menelaus makes her a princess and she is sent away from the war to the kingdom of a prince she met in Troy and she loves.
This book surprised me, I found it to be an enjoyable and satisfying read. Goddess follows the characters of the Iliad pretty closely and sometimes to the point that it feels that characters are discussed or highlighted just because they are in the Iliad. Although Anaxandra’s loyalty to her kings sometimes feels annoying, to this feminist reader, it is fun to see the action from a teenage girl’s perspective (Cassandra is also a teenager). show less

A very engaging book about a young girl living through the Trojan war, as she explores her lies, loves and loyalties.

A YA book about the Trojan War from women's perspectives. Why are there so many of these? Anyway, this one was actually really entertaining, even if it did have some silliness about Medusa. The hostage Anaxandra disguises herself as two different princesses during the time just before the Trojan War. Easy read, very entertaining, no irksome errors.

Anaxandra, a girl taken from her home island, finds herself involved in the Trojan war, hated by Helen and Paris, and loved as a daughter by Helen's former husband.

I wanted to like this book, really I did. It had such potiental to be really good. But Cooney's writing was choppy and she would start and end scenes abruptly without any thought to the reader. The story also ends rather suddenly without any good closure. Don't waste your time with this one.