тАЬA raw and compelling portrait of 411 BC Greece in which women must fight for justice and democracyтАЭ by the Strega PrizeтАУwinning Italian novelist (La Stampa).
Athens, 411 BC. As the Peloponnesian War draws to a close, a political coup begins to take shape in Athens. Veterans of the infamous battle of Mantinea, Thrasyllus, and Polemon now live as humble farmers in the countryside. They are determined to find influential husbands for their daughters, Glycera and Charis, but first they must defend Athens from the oligarchs plotting to reinstate tyrannical rule.
Young and impatient, Glycera and Charis soon become infatuated with their neighborтАЩs rich and arrogant son, Cimon. When their fathers travel to Athens to see AristophanesтАЩs latest comedy, the girls use the chance to accept an invitation to CimonтАЩs house┬а.┬а.┬а. with no notion of what awaits them on their visit.
Alternating between the secret drama playing out in the countryside and the public one playing out onstage in Athens, Alessandro Barbero weaves тАЬa compelling story of womenтАЩs valiant struggles to maintain their dignity in a misogynistic societyтАЭ (Historical Novel Society).