The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller, 2011
Fantasy Historical fictionRomanceContemporary fiction
The Iliad retold by the man who loved Achilles: a boyhood friendship that becomes the centre of the Trojan War. The book is lyrical and deeply tender, weaving moments of profound love and grief against the backdrop of brutal war.
Feels like longing, tenderness and grief. About love, war and memory.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you appreciate historical settings that focus heavily on personal relationships and emotional depth. Be prepared for the intense emotional weight and the tragic nature of the conflict, which is both beautiful and devastating.
Why read it
It gives you a poignant, human perspective on an ancient epic, allowing you to experience the grandeur and sorrow of the Trojan War through intimate moments.
A page from the book
To know someone so well that sight becomes optional.
I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world. Madeline Miller.Madeline Miller taught Latin and Greek for ten years; The Song of Achilles won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Books that feel like this
More by Madeline Miller
Circe
Madeline Miller, 2018
The witch of the Odyssey tells her own story: exile, transformation, and the dangerous bargain of loving mortals.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Song of Achilles for me?
- You may like it if you appreciate historical settings that focus heavily on personal relationships and emotional depth. Be prepared for the intense emotional weight and the tragic nature of the conflict, which is both beautiful and devastating.
- What is The Song of Achilles like?
- The book is lyrical and deeply tender, weaving moments of profound love and grief against the backdrop of brutal war. Feels like longing, tenderness and grief. About love, war and memory.
- What should I read after The Song of Achilles?
- If you liked The Song of Achilles, try If He Had Been With Me (Laura Nowlin), It Ends with Us (Colleen Hoover) and One Italian Summer (Rebecca Serle).
A taste of the feed
Loving someone so long it stops being a feeling and becomes a body part.
I’ve loved him my whole life, and somewhere along the way, that love didn’t change but grew. It grew to fill the parts of me that I did not have when I was a child. It grew with every new longing of my body and desire until there was not a piece of me that did not love him. And when I look at him, there is no other feeling in me.
If He Had Been With Me · Laura Nowlin
What it costs to be trusted by someone who has stopped believing.
I would do anything for you.” His eyes locked onto mine in the dashboard lights, intense and a little hurt. “What is it going to take for you to believe me? To trust me? You want my background checked? Do it. You want my credit score? Awesome. My bank account? I’ll add you on. You have my word, my body, my time, and I’m standing here offering my last name. What else can I give you?
The Last Letter · Rebecca Yarros
Some love stories are made mostly of the time in between.
I fell in love with her when we were together, then fell deeper in love with her in the years we were apart. Our story has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and an end. And although this is the way all stories unfold, I still can’t believe that ours didn’t go on forever.
Dear John · Nicholas Sparks
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