CASSANDRA

The fall of Troy as viewed by participants in the horrors.

Cassandra and her twin brother, Eleni, the children of King Priam and Queen Hecube of Troy, are a priestess and priest of Apollo the sun god. When a bored Aphrodite makes a wager with Apollo for a golden apple, the lives of Cassandra and Achaean healer Diomenes, called Chryse, are forever changed as they become pawns of the gods. Cassandra is cursed with the gift of prophecy. She cannot tell what she knows about the future of Troy. While Cassandra is growing and learning in Troy, Chryse is becoming a gifted healer whose life is forever changed when he is called upon to treat his first love, Elene of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world. Though she’s married to Menelaus, Elene is nevertheless sought by many powerful men, and a war will soon be fought over her. When Elene runs off to Egypt with Cassandra’s arrogant brother Pariki, the Achaeans have the perfect excuse to declare war on Troy even though they know that the Trojans would gladly have given her up had she not remained in Egypt. Under the excellent leadership of Cassandra’s brother Hector, the Trojans withstand a long siege while the Achaeans are picked off by disease and useless forays. Cassandra and Chryse meet when he rescues her twin and returns him to Troy. What the Achaeans cannot achieve by battle, they achieve by following a plan conceived by the clever Odysseus.

The second in Greenwood’s Delphic Women series (Medea, 2013) offers a far different premise on a familiar story, crammed with well-researched detail, fascinating characters and erotic scenes.