The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller · b. 1978 · United States

Why it matters

Patroclus, the exiled prince raised alongside Achilles, narrates their friendship-turned-love affair from boyhood training through the Trojan War to its foretold, tragic end. A classicist's decade of work turns the Iliad's margins into its emotional center.

At a glance

Lyrical but clear prose carries an already-known ending at an accessible, emotionally driven pace.