Song of Achilles, The: A Novel (P.S.) - Softcover

"At once a scholar's homage to THE ILIAD and a startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist. Madeline Miller has given us her own fresh take on the Trojan war and its heroes. The result is a book I could not put down."--Ann Patchett, bestselling author of BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER

"You don't need to be familiar with Homer's The Iliad (or Brad Pitt's Troy, for that matter) to find Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles spellbinding....her explorations of ego, grief, and love's many permutations are both familiar and new....[A] timeless love story."--O magazine

"Extraordinary... Beautifully descriptive and heartachingly lyrical, this is a love story as sensitive and intuitive as any you will find."--Daily Mail

"Miller's prose is more poetic than almost any translation of Homer... This is a deeply affecting version of the Achilles story: a fully three-dimension man - a son, a father, husband and lover - now exists where a superhero previously stood and fought."--The Guardian

"Although the details of the story are Miller's own, the world is one that all who love the Iliad and its epigones will recognize. Reading this book recalled me to the breathless sense of the ancient-yet-present that I felt when I first fell in love with the classics."--Catherine Conybeare, Professor of Classics, Bryn Mawr College

"Miller somehow (and breathtakingly so) mixes high-action commercial plotting with writing of such beautiful delicacy you sometimes have to stop and stare."--The Independent

"A modern take on The Iliad, full of love and feats of glory and told in an open, lyric, loose-limbed fashion that should appeal to many readers.... Next up from Miller--the story of Circe...historical fiction fans, get in on the ground floor."--Library Journal

"Mary Renault lives again! A ravishingly vivid and convincing version of one of the most legendary of love stories."--Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of ROOM

"Masterfully brings to life an imaginative yet informed vision of ancient Greece featuring divinely human gods and larger-than-life mortals. She breaks new ground retelling one of the world's oldest stories about men in love and war [and] extraordinary women."--Publishers Weekly (starred review), Pick of the Week

"I loved this book. The language was timeless, the historical details were slipped in perfectly. I hope SONG OF ACHILLES becomes part of the high school summer reading lists alongside PENELOPIAD."--Helen Simonson, bestselling author of MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND

This epic retelling of the legend of Achilles follows Patroclus and Achilles, the golden son of King Peleus, as they, skilled in the arts of war and medicine, lay siege to Troy after Helen of Sparta is kidnapped--a cause that tests their friendship and forces them to make the ultimate sacrifice. 50,000 first printing.