The Face That Launched A Thousand Ships

Posted Sep 9, 2006 by Kevin Walker

Updated Sep 9, 2006 at 11:48 AM

Of all women in history, even women in fictional stories, none can quite compare to the legend that is Helen of Troy. After all, how many women can say their beauty and allure was such that men when to war over her? In “Helen of Troy,” author Margaret George weaves the story into a skillful tale. The basic story: Helen is wed, and has a daughter, and finds herself in domestic bliss. Along comes Paris, and once she lays eyes on him, she realizes the passion that is missing in her life. The two become lovers within days, then run off together to Troy in the dead of night. Her husband, Menelaus, soon comes after her - with an army. Thus begins the seige of Troy. The special 25-CD box set of the book, read by actress Justine Eyre, is now available from Penguin Audio.

In another CD set - this one only 9 discs - author Jasper Fforde provides another “Nursery Crime” story with “The Fourth Bear” (also from Penguin Audio). In this one, investigator Jack Spratt has been demoted to solving missing person cases (after showing some poor judgment in a previous story in the investigation of the death of Mr. Bun the Baker). But his first case - looking into the disappearance of journalist Henrietta “Goldy” Hatchett - leads him to investigate The Three Bears, the last ones to see Goldy. To say the least, all is not what it seems with the bears, who live a seemingly placid life in Andersen’s Wood. For one thing, it appears there is a fourth bear that no one ever knew about.

On a nonfiction note, Zainab Salbi offers harrowing but ultimately hopeful tales of women during wartime in “The Other Side of War: Women’s Stories of Survival and Hope.” The author offers stories of how women, their families torn asunder and their homes destroyed, have provided “the glue that holds families and countires together…War is not a computer-generated missile striking a digital map. War is the color of earth as it explodes in our faces, the sound of your child pleading, the smell of smoke and fear. Perhaps by understanding women, and the other side of war, we will have more humility in our discussions of war.”  The stories come from war-torn places such as Afghanistan, the Congo, Sudan, Rwanda and Bosnia.