It is a most ironic note to this brief but important scene in the Iliad when two enemies find the courage to hold a short truce which allows them to share a moment of common humanity. The only detail which rescues this from a total loss is that the author has included the part of the Iliou Persis where the murderous Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, murders Priam even though Priam has sought refuge at the altar of Zeus. The role of the gods is almost completely omitted. A moving tale of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, Ransom is incandescent in its delicate and powerful lyricism and its unstated imperative that we imagine our lives in the glow of fellow feeling. The story is based on the final passages of Homer’s The Iliad. His writing style is melodic, lyrical, incisive Mini Plot Summary: The events in Ransom play out of over the course of one day, in the time of the legendary Trojan War. When Paris spirits Helen away from her husband, King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), it is an insult that cannot be suffered. Name: David Malouf Key facts: Multi-award winning author from Brisbane, Australia. Instead, the muleteer and the mules, who drive the cart carrying the treasure Priam brings to ransom his son and to carry his body back to the citadel of Troy, are elevated to a place of importance. In ancient Greece, the passion of two of literatures most notorious lovers, Paris, Prince of Troy (Orlando Bloom) and Helen (Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta, ignites a war that will devastate a civilization. Briseis, who plays a part in these scenes in the Iliad, and who serves as a reminder for the sequence of actions which brings these two men together in the camp of Achilles, makes no appearance here. However, many details of the story told so beautifully and movingly in the Iliad are omitted in this retelling while others are invented. While Simon Vance has a great deal of talent as a narrator, this was a poor choice for this novel where a more sympathetic, kindly voice would have been a better fit.

The narration is ponderous, heavy and clunky. This novel fails at every level to capture the drama of Priam's ransom of the body of his son, Hector, from Achilles as told in Homer's Iliad.

Ransom by david malouf