Beauty's Daughter

Beauty's Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy
by Carolyn Meyer
352 pages

What is it like to be the daughter of the most beautiful woman in the world?

Hermione knows . . . her mother is Helen of Troy, the famed beauty of Greek myth. Helen is not only beautiful but also impulsive, and when she falls in love with charming Prince Paris, she runs off with him to Troy, abandoning her distraught daughter. Determined to reclaim their enchanting queen, the Greek army sails for Troy. Hermione stows away in one of the thousand ships in the fleet and witnesses the start of the legendary Trojan War.
     In the rough Greek encampment outside the walls of Troy, Hermione’s life is far from that of a pampered princess. Meanwhile, her mother basks in luxury in the royal palace inside the city. Hermione desperately wishes for the gods and goddesses to intervene and end the brutal war—and to bring her love. Will she end up with the handsome archer Orestes, or the formidable Pyrrhus, leader of a tribe of fierce warriors? And will she ever forgive her mother for bringing such chaos to her life and the lives of so many others?

This story was a little flat. I was amazed at how they took the 10 years in Troy and summed it up in a few sentences. So we don't really see Hermione grow while in the Spartan camp - she goes from child to woman, and somehow has developed feelings for her cousin that we never see. Of course it goes over all of the main points of Troy (Achilles, Petrocles, Ajax, etc.)  but just lumps them in at one end. It's not a bad story, and a unique look at the Trojan War, but I didn't get any solid feelings on the main character - I didn't hate her, but I didn't really care for her either.