A BOOK OF THE YEAR

in the

Financial Times, The Independent on Sunday,

The Daily Mail,

The Scotsman, and The Good Book Guide!

 

'A wonderful read. It's what great history is all about - excitement, a fast-moving story, packed full of information, accessible and brainy, a dazzling combination.

Bettany Hughes puts women slap-bang right back at the heart of things. Add to your pile of must-read books.'

Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth

 

 

‘This is an absorbing, brilliantly researched work’

The Good Book Guide

'An entrancing tale of the ultimate pin-up'

Mail on Sunday - Book of The Week 

'Sensuous and gorgeous'

Tom Holland, The Sunday Times

'Hughes splendidly reclaims Helen from centuries of helpless victimhood'  

The Observer

'A genuinely exciting historical narrative.'

Dr. Richard Miles, Sunday Telegraph

‘Her multi-faceted, multi-hued, and multi-period portrait of la Belle Helene will capture the imagination of professional scholars and general readers alike.
I cannot recommend it too strongly.'

Paul Cartledge,

Professor of Greek History, Cambridge University

“The most fascinating of subjects, handled with style…Bettany Hughes is an author whom everyone will enjoy and she has brought her exceptional talents to bear on the possibilities and impact of the most famous heroine in history”

Professor Robin Lane Fox, New College Oxford

'The book triumphantly reclaims Helen from her traducers. Hughes' portrait is as close to a real,
living Helen as we are likely to get. In an increasingly sexualised culture,
 the questions Helen raises are more alive than ever'

Financial Times

‘I hope that many readers buy this book…When Helen launched her “thousand ships” was she a “shameless hussy”?…Or, like her mother, was she a rape victim?...The answers have always depended on who you speak to and when. Hughes has them all.’

Peter Stothard, The Times

'I did not think it would be possible to write a life of Helen. Bettany Hughes has done so with a brilliance and erudition that leave me gasping.'

John Julius Norwich

 

Pimlico and Vintage Publicity
Random House,
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(020 7840 8400)