A Thousand Ships cover art

A Thousand Ships

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

A Thousand Ships

By: Natalie Haynes
Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Powerfully read by the author, Natalie Haynes. Told from an all-female perspective, A Thousand Ships sees the classicist and author of Divine Might retell the story of the Trojan War – putting the women, girls and goddesses at the centre of the story.

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls.

'With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Natalie Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War' – Madeline Miller, author of Circe

This was never the story of one woman, or two. It was the story of them all . . .

In the middle of the night, a woman wakes to find her beloved city engulfed in flames. Ten seemingly endless years of conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans are over. Troy has fallen.

From the Trojan women whose fates now lie in the hands of the Greeks, to the Amazon princess who fought Achilles on their behalf, to Penelope awaiting the return of Odysseus, to the three goddesses whose feud started it all, these are the stories of the women embroiled in the legendary war.

'A many-layered delight' – The Guardian

'A gripping feminist masterpiece' – Deborah Frances-White, The Guilty Feminist

©Natalie Haynes 2019 (P)2019 Macmillan Digital Audio Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Magic Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Ancient Greece Ancient History War

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 1-4 cover art
God of Fire cover art
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey cover art
Return to Ithaca cover art
Medea cover art
Greek Mythology cover art
The Witch's Heart cover art
A Prince of Troy cover art
A Girl Called Samson cover art
Morgan Is My Name cover art
The Mists of Avalon cover art
Where the Lost Wander cover art

Critic reviews

With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism, Haynes gives much-needed voice to the silenced women of the Trojan War. Her thoughtful portraits will linger with you long after the book is finished (Madeline Miller, author of Circe)
Natalie Haynes is swiftly becoming this generation’s Mary Renault; her retelling of the Trojan war from an all-female perspective, A Thousand Ships, is her best yet.
The forgotten women are vividly brought to life in this moving, intelligent and witty book (Martha Kearney, BBC Radio 4)
Elegant, intelligent . . . Haynes combines a wide-ranging knowledge of the original myths with a gift for compelling narrative
A joy to read: fast paced, cracking with emotion and tension (Professor Michael Scott)
Here, in this treat of a book, the women take centre stage - and how brilliantly . . . Natalie Haynes brings them to witty, lyrical, scintillating life . . . A book to both savour and devour (Suzannah Lipscomb)
Breathtaking . . . Her writing isn’t merely clever, or elegant, or (at times) extremely funny - though it is all of those things. It’s also viscerally vivid. (Catherine Nixey)
All stars
Most relevant  
At long last, Trojan and Greek women have been given back their voices. What a stunning, moving yet unsentimental retelling of the Trojan War. Five stars.

The definitive retelling of the Trojan war

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was a joy! Always enjoy the book being read by the author and this was no exception. Awful, horrific tragedy and a lightness of touch and humour gave contrast and depth. The letters from Penelope were a delight!

So good!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's a bit of a slow starter, but don't let that put you off! it's incredibly refreshing to hear these familiar stories from a female perspective, I very much enjoyed this book!

Loved

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Having learned of the Trojan war as a child and from a Greek point of view, I’m now appalled at all the parts of the stories that were left out for my tender years. I didn’t know that Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter in return for a following wind, nor that Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon was her revenge and not a power grab with her lover. I was taught the Odyssey and thought it was 10 years of marvellous adventure, only to find now it was 2 years of adventure and 8 of dallying in the arms of beautiful nymphs. I am appalled at these ‘heros’ and their propensity for female sacrifice and am more inclined to support the Trojans who protected their wives while the Greeks abandoned theirs. I wish the Trojans had sent Helen packing, but what can you do when she’s where she is because a goddess put her there. This is a truly wonderful story and I’m glad the author went right back to the original sources in order to tell it.

Refreshing to see the Trojan war from another point of view

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Absolutely amazing, if you enjoy mythology you will really enjoy this. This is my second Natalie Haynes book, and I’ve loved both

Incredible

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This would be great essential reading for all females! The writing is excellent and I read it threef Dr times because I wanted it to never end. Brilliantly read. It’s perfect in giving the play fullness a voiceI forgot I had been feeling down when I first listened to this but I was transported to ancient times and was laughing so much by them time I got to the chapter with the three goddesses. I love this author since I read The Amber Fury because it’s so clever and I admire how she brings everything to life. I can almost smell the warmth and the pine trees I love this book so much I buy it for my best friends, both male and female, so we can share it. I know this is a long review but I wanted to say fantastic writing and a huge ThankYou!

Brilliant! In writing, storytelling and imagination.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I preface this review by admitting I have a degree in Classics. Whilst I am a Roman person at heart, not a Greek, I absolutely loved this book! It spoke to me in a way that no other book has for years. When it finished I immediately wanted to start it again. The story and the narration were perfect.

If you ever wondered what happened to the women affected by the Trojan War then this is the book for you. I always liked Penelope, now I love her - her voice and increasing annoyance are so modern but also so true, and don’t get me started on the Muse! All of the characters had their own distinct voices and you could understand their view point - even Helen. This is not a sentimental book, but a wonderful honest imagining of how each of the women may have been affected by the war. Thank you Natalie Haynes for writing this book for me!

I have waited for this book for years

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
We enjoy the Natalie Haynes "Stand up for the Classics" programmes and so were keen to try this book. First thing to say, it is not a comedy although there are some very sharply observed ironic comments. Of course it is a re-examination of ancient Greek history and culture from a female standpoint. That said, it is not written with an overtly feminist agenda and is more dispassionate than many of the other recent books on similar themes from Greek history (legend?) written from the female point of view.
Our enjoyment was increased by the fact that we were familiar with Homer and many of the Greek tragedies. This book from Natalie Haynes with her female narratives may well increase your own enjoyment of the Greek classics, as it has ours.

Three thousand years later the women speak

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The passion Natalie Haynes has for her subject comes through in her reading of this book. angry, despairing, frustrated. disempowered but never powerless, the women of the ancient world sing loud from this wonderful book

stopped me in my tracks

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Every time Natalie reads something she has read it stays with me for months and is all I can think about, so I listen to another audio book of hers and the cycle continues. She's an incredible storyteller in every sense of the word and I feel so lucky to be able to listen to her narrate her own work so beautifully. Thank you once again, Natalie, this book will stay with me for a long time.

Impeccable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews