“it’s a marvel - beautifully written, surprisingly moving, quietly rather brilliant.” “RANSOM is a diamond of a novel, tiny but flawless, prose so pared away and carefully constructed that however many times you read it, it persists in revealing new meanings and unfolding new images to the mind’s eye.” ‘The sheer potency of this slim volume can hijack your senses and emotions.’ The Courier Mail ‘In austere, elegant prose that subverts Homer’s Iliad in significant ways, David Malouf has created in Ransom an imaginative terrain that is both new and old.’ Rod Jones, The Age

‘Malouf’s rendering of Ancient Greece is gorgeous, fantastical, and yet earthly, humble and relatable.’ Australian Bookseller + Publisher Read more ‘This book shines new light on this story of the Trojan War, adding twists and reflections as well as flashes of earthly humour.’ Brisbane News ‘That this tender novel lingers so long and hauntingly in the mind is a testament both to Malouf’s poetry and to his reverence for the endless power of myth.’ Steve Coates, New York Times Book Review ‘Though Malouf’s sparingly deployed details, vigorous language, and sly wit humanize these tragic heroes, the story is unmistakably epic and certainly the stuff of legend.’ Publishers Weekly (starred review) Lyrical, immediate and heartbreaking Malouf’s fable engraves the epic themes of the Trojan war onto a perfect miniature - themes of war and heroics, hubris and humanity, chance and fate, the bonds between soldiers, fathers and sons, all newly burnished and brilliantly recast for our times. Dressed simply and in a cart pulled by a mule, an old man sets off for the Greek camp. There must be a way, he thinks, of reclaiming the body - of pitting compromise against heroics, new ways against the old, and of forcing the hand of fate. From the walls of Troy, King Priam watches the body of his son, Hector, being dragged behind Achilles’ chariot. In this exquisite gem of a novel, Achilles is maddened by grief at the death of his friend Patroclus. ‘A work of immediacy, humanity and tenderness.’ Philip Parker, Financial Timesĭavid Malouf shines new light on Homer’s Iliad, adding twists and reflections, as well as flashes of earthy humour, to surprise and enchant.

‘a masterpiece’ Alberto Manguel, Australian Literary Review subtle and extremely moving.’ Daniel Mendelsohn, New Yorker ‘Australia’s finest writer’ Miriam Cosic, The Australian Malouf's fable engraves the epic themes of the Trojan war onto a perfect miniature.

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