Walls of Wilusa: A Novel of Survival During the Trojan War

This is not a retelling of the Iliad, Homer’s marvelous classic of the Trojan War. It is the backdrop, but a sprinkled backdrop as it depicts just a few major events. For three millennia, children, families, moviegoers, and scholars have thrilled over the epic battles of kings, heroes, gods, and goddesses. This story is about the other people—farmers, metal workers, bakers, and pornai, who lived in and around Troy, and who fought to survive the onslaught of the Greek armada as it invaded their homeland and waged war against their city.

Thalia and Alexio are unwilling warriors who battle overwhelming odds for ten years with only wit and cunning as their weapons. Could a secret their father left possibly alter the course of the war? Can they devise a plan to rescue their abducted mother? They’re torn apart when Alexio is seized by Trojan guards for the murder of one of their own. Can he escape the headsman’s axe? Must Thalia turn to prostitution for food? Who will they ask to for help—thieving orphans, a dwarf army commander, a tattooed mercenary, or a seductive Amazon?

The major characters are fictional, but others are from the Iliad and similar historical accounts. The glossary distinguishes between the two. The appendix links events in the story with those of the Iliad.