“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
Written by Madeline Miller and published in 2011, The Song of Achilles follows Patroclus, an awkward young prince who has been exiled to the court of King Peleus. There, he meets Prince Achilles. By all rights, their paths should never cross, but Achilles takes the shamed prince as his friend. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper, despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But then word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus journeys with Achilles to Troy, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
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