STEALING ATHENA
Karen Essex
Doubleday
Historical Fiction
ISBN: 9780385519717

Once again, Karen Essex takes her readers back to a time in history rich in controversy with bold characters who cry out for attention. In STEALING ATHENA, she intertwines the lives of an ancient Greek and an 18th century British earl, two men with opposing interests.

Over 2,000 years ago, the famous Greek Pericles labored tirelessly to build the Parthenon, driven by his desire to erect a shrine to the powerful goddess Athena, namesake of his city. In doing so, he risked much: money, scorn, treachery. But to him, it was worth it. His lover, Aspasia, used her influence over the people of Athens to help him whenever possible. She could not deny her nature as a philosopher and a woman of strong opinions. Aspasia watched Pericles give himself over to this project, gently and subtly guiding him as much as she dared.

Once, seeing that Aspasia was perplexed by her lover’s obsession with the Parthenon, a wise woman told her, “Think about it. For the sake of fame, men will risk great dangers…Pericles’ sons and their sons, like all progeny, will die within a few generations. His building projects, however, are a more perfect bid for eternal fame than his children because they will last through the centuries…” Aspasia patted her pregnant belly and smiled at the truth of these words.

Over a thousand years later, as the 18th century turned into the 19th, the Scottish Lord Elgin had an obsession of his own: Save the Parthenon from looters and tourists by shipping it piece by piece back to England. But he needed help, a lot of it. He began by wooing the very desirable --- and very wealthy --- Mary Nisbet. Her heart was easily won. Following a short courtship, they were married, she was pregnant and, soon after, his bid to become British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire came through. The newlyweds felt their lives were charmed. Lord and Lady Elgin were on their way to Athens, where Elgin could begin his dream of deconstructing the Parthenon.

As her husband went about his work, Mary played the diplomat’s wife with style and grace, making friends with some unlikely people. A headstrong female in a land where the rules that govern the behavior of women are restrictive in the extreme, she also caused tongues to wag. Elgin seemed proud of his wife, but his mood swings made Mary wonder at times. Nonetheless, she flourished as a hostess --- and as a mother.

Meanwhile, back when the Parthenon was in its infancy, Aspasia was building her own reputation as a hostess, since a man as influential as Pericles needed a strong presence in Athenian social circles. Some of her enemies, though, kept a jealous eye on her every move, keen for her to slip up. Society didn’t afford courtesans much in the way of personal rights, nor did it wish to see them pretending to be on an equal tier with respectable ladies. There were people who wanted Aspasia brought down.

But if Pericles and Aspasia had troubles, they didn’t compare to those of Lord and Lady Elgin. Could it be that the ancient gods were angered by the British earl and his quest to dismantle their shrine? Lord Elgin scoffed at the idea that anything mystical had a hand in it, but there is no denying that his fortunes took a precipitous downturn. Whether you’re a believer or not, you must admit there is some force at work guiding every person’s fate in this world.

These two women did not deserve the fates they were dealt. Strong, intelligent, with fierce fighting spirits, they lived in a world where men ruled, forced to find ways to make their lives tolerable and meaningful. Aspasia and Mary Nisbet Elgin, as Essex imagines them, embody all that’s honorable, worthy and admirable, if not a little rebellious. They would be vastly uninteresting women if that were not so.

STEALING ATHENA firmly entrenches Karen Essex among the top historical novel writers of our day. Where will she go next? It most assuredly will involve a new slant on a woman with great passion from deep in the past.

    --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

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