Book Review: PENELOPE'S DAUGHTER by Laurel Corona

I guess this fall has just turned into a score of good reads. This one is no exception. I was hoping to review this one. Today is the day to toot a little horn in celebration of real good reads.

I really could not predict this one but Laurel was able to get me up to speed on the history surprisingly pretty fast. It is hard to get up to speed on one of the greatest epics ever written. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus all over the place especially his tale of events in The Trojan War. The one thing I knew for sure was that after the war lost for some twenty years. I do remember thinking about what did his family do while he was off tearing up things all over the place? What had they endured in those twenty years?

This is where Laurel introduces her fabulous heroine Xanthe. The daughter Odysseus never knew existed. It is hard to imagine but Odysseus did have a family. When he went off to defend Helen in The Trojan War he left behind a wife (Penelope), a son, and a daughter that was conceived right before he left. Xanthe never knew her father but she did have her family and the good people who served her family faithfully.

Sadly a kingdom with out its king will suffer. Xanthe and her beautiful mother could only hold out for so long against the nasty would be suitors for so long before Xanthe would be in extreme danger of abduction by the suitors. Scary as it was the truth the suitors were there for one reason and they were driven by the sole ambition of the lust for a crown. For Xanthe’s protection her mother set into action an intricate plot to fake her own daughter’s death and spirit her away to safety. The safe zone was to her mother’s cousin’s home and the best part is that the cousin is one of my favorite historical women. The infamous Helen of Troy. The adventure took off from there and as Xanthe grew into womanhood she learned more than she ever anticipated she ever could from the one woman who took away her father from her.

5/5 Ancient Greece at its best. Talk about inspiring people to touch up on their classics. It even made me want to go back and read Homer’s The Odyssey all over again. Helen of Troy has always fascinated me and she is always a character I look for. I really enjoyed that Helen took Xanthe under her wing and taught her so much about life. From how to worship the goddesses to love, Helen was an ever magical persona in Xanthe’s life that had a very positive influence on her young impressionable mind. Recommended for historical fiction lovers who would love to get a new prospective on Odysseus and the family he left behind.

PG-13 Violence

FTC- This book was sent to me by Publisher

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