Black Ships by Jo Graham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This review was originally published in August 2008 on the now defunct webzine, The Specusphere,



Jo Graham’s debut novel arose out of a long-time interest in Ancient History. She also loves the old stories, including The Aeneid. Her knowledge of history made her realise that Aeneas could not possibly have founded Carthage because that city did not exist at the time of the Trojan Wars, when The Aeneid is set. So she re-wrote the classic tale, focussing on characters fleshed out from mere mentions in the original and giving the story an Egyptian twist. Black Ships is the result.

Graham has given us, as first person point-of-view character, a girl named Gull, born in slavery in Pylos where her mother had been sold as a prize of war. She grows up to become Pythia, seer and priestess of Persephone, and when Prince Aeneas arrives with his nine warships and three fishing boats to rescue the captives, the course of her life is irrevocably altered. She must decide between her sacred calling and a perilous adventure – fleeing from slavery to be guide to her people and especially to Aeneas.

The Aeneid has a story worth telling again and again, and if you do not mind reading a version that departs from the original tale and tells it with a new voice, you will love this book. Graham takes us right inside the culture and society that spawned Gull and her fellow captives, giving us along the way credible glimpses of life in the palace of the Pharaohs. She also shows us what it was like to sail the Mediterranean in ships that were barely seaworthy and to be shipwrecked on land that was barely habitable. And always, the ground bass of The Aeneid plays in the background with Graham’s tale playing a melodious counterpoint.

The Aeneid is, of course, an epic tale, and enjoyable and well written as Graham’s spin-off is, the reader sometimes feels rushed. Whole decades are glossed over as the author fights to squeeze the story into less than 400 pages and one cannot help but feel that a more leisurely pace, perhaps spreading Gull’s story over two books, might have been preferable. Even so, this is a fine debut novel, suitable for all age groups. It will be treasured by anyone who, like the author, loves history and mythology.



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