Stealing Athena: A Novel [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Karen Essex (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2008

The author of the bestselling Leonardo’s Swans traverses the centuries into the hearts of two extraordinary women to reveal the passions, ambitions, and controversies surrounding the Elgin Marbles.

The Elgin Marbles have been displayed in the British Museum for nearly two hundred years, and for just as long they have been the center of a raging controversy. In Stealing Athena, Karen Essex chronicles the Marbles’ amazing journey through the dynamic narratives of Mary Nisbet, wife of the Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to Constantinople, and Aspasia, the mistress of Perikles, the most powerful man in Athens during that city’s Golden Age.
At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the twenty-one-year-old, newly wed Countess of Elgin, a Scottish heiress and celebrated beauty, enchanted the power brokers of the Ottoman Empire, using her charms to obtain their permission for her husband’s audacious plan to deconstruct the Parthenon and bring its magnificent sculptures to England. Two millennia earlier, Aspasia, a female philosopher and courtesan, and a central figure in Athenian life, plied her wits, allure, and influence with equal determination, standing with Perikles at the center of vehement opposition to his vision of building the most exquisite monuments the world had ever seen.
Rich in romance and intrigue, greed and glory, Stealing Athena is an enthralling work of historical fiction and a window into the intimate lives of some of history’s most influential and fascinating women.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lord Elgin may be famous for bringing the Parthenon's sculptural masterpieces to England during the Napoleonic wars, but for Essex (Leonardo's Swans), it's Lady Elgin who pays for it, in fortune and in reputation. More about money than sex, and more about art than either, Essex's latest alternates the story of Scottish heiress Mary Hamilton Nisbet Bruce, countess of Elgin, with that of Aspasia, courtesan lover of the great Pericles and the inspiration for the Parthenon's Athena. Essex begins with 21-year-old Mary, newly wed and pregnant, en route to Constantinople with her diplomat husband. She soon discovers his obsession with dismantling the Ottoman-controlled Parthenon and his plan to reconstruct it in his Greek revival home. Over years, Mary endures his neglect and gives him five children before turning to fellow Scot Robert Ferguson, a powerful Englishman who stands by her during a racy divorce trial. That trial, in which English society spurns Mary, is mirrored by Aspasia's run-in with an Athenian court for sexual impropriety. Both of their stories are overshadowed by the marbles themselves; their creation, recovery, transport and restoration provide the most vivid passages of the novel. Essex shines light on the women who inspired and protected some of the greatest art ever created, and the men who exploited them. (June)
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From Booklist

With the history of the Elgin Marbles as a framework, Essex moves between ancient Greece and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe to depict the lives of two women—both scandalous in their times—who were key to the story. Aspasia, courtesan and advisor to Athenian statesman Pericles, saw the creation of the marble masterpieces at the Parthenon (and served as model for its statue of Athena, an admittedly fictional device). Mary Nisbet, Countess of Elgin, supported her husband, then British ambassador to Turkey, in his obsession to save this art from ruin at the hands of the Turkish occupiers of Greece and send the marbles to Britain before Napoléon could claim them for France, and she brought her considerable charm and personal wealth to this end. Essex, author of two Cleopatra novels and Leonardo’s Swans (2006), brings a feminist eye to her work, as she deals with female sexuality and shows Aspasia without a voice to defend herself and Mary with no legal rights. This is vibrant, well-researched historical fiction from an author whose goal is “to reframe history from the female point of view.” --Michele Leber

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385519710
• ISBN-13: 978-0385519717
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,118,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karen Essex is the author of five novels of historical fiction. The latest, DRACULA IN LOVE, retells Bram Stoker's tale from the female perspective. STEALING ATHENA chronicles the fantastic journey of the controversial Elgin Marbles. The national and international bestseller LEONARDO'S SWANS, for which she won Italy's prestigious 2007 Premio Roma for foreign fiction, is the story of the rivalry between Leonardo's muses. Essex also wrote two acclaimed biographical novels, KLEOPATRA and PHARAOH, about the infamous queen of Egypt.

She is also an award winning journalist and a screenwriter, and wrote BETTIE PAGE: LIFE OF A PINUP LEGEND, the only authorized biography of the late pin-up icon.

Presently dividing her time between London and Los Angeles, Karen invites friends and readers to follow along as she chronicles her adventures, joys, and sorrows in putting together a complex work of historical fiction: www.karenessex.com/blog. Also, please follow her on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/karenessex.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The fact remains that she is but a woman, subject to the higher will of men.", June 21, 2008

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stealing Athena: A Novel (Hardcover)

Though I'd heard of Karen Essex, before "Stealing Athena" I had never read one of her novels. I was inspired to read this one because of the many mentions of the Elgin marbles in Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily mystery series and have always been interested in the controversy surrounding the huge amount of many (other countries') national treasures that reside in the British museum and so picked up this novel. All I can say is I enjoyed this so much that I am supremely happy to have found the first three Essex novels and added them on my too read stack.

"Stealing Athena" is a divided novel telling the story of two young, smart and custom defying women who where heavily involved in the history of the Parthenon and the amazing sculptures which adorned it. Mary Elgin, the wife of Lord Elgin who harvested the marbles and brought them back to England and Aspasia, consort of Perikles who was responsible for funding and getting permission for the building of the Parthenon in the 5th century BC. But these women have more in common than the great structure-both are attached to men who sought an immortal glory-Perikles through the building of the Parthenon and Lord Elgin in the dismantling and "preservation" of it. And both find themselves struggling between the conventions of the time and their own personal happiness.

We start with Mary, Lady Elgin, who is the focus of the book in third person. A newly married young woman on her way to Constantinople where her husband is to be the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Mary believes her marriage to be a love match. She doesn't know that her husbands seemingly innocent goal of making drawings and molds of the Greek artifacts on the Acropolis will soon become an obsession and search for immortal glory that will place her own health and wellbeing, along with that of her growing brood, at great risk and may destroy their marriage.

Aspasia tells of her life with Perikles in Athens in first person. As a foreigner to the city Perikles is forbidden by a law he himself created to marry her, but their lives are filled with love and lively conversation. And as a "courtesan" instead of a proper wife Aspasia has freedom that most women in Athens do not-the freedom to move about the city freely, to attend men's parties, to give advice on marriage to men seeking wives and claim the title of philosopher. But her level of freedom insults the good people of Athens and even Perikles cannot protect her from banishment if she is convicted by citizens resentful of her and her lover of a crime...

Though it beautiful illustrates the creation of the Parthenon and the beauty it was have held both in its infancy and later degraded state, the main theme in this novel is the difference in how men and women seek immortality. Mary and Aspasia are content with their children though they both find the marbles exquisite but Perikles and Elgin are determined to do whatever it takes in order to create (or preserve) monuments that will last long beyond their own deaths. It is also a scathing commentary on the amount of freedom allowed to women and the scorn that falls from society when they out step their given bounds-even with a time difference of over 2,000 years.

I wonder what Athena would have thought about that?

In addition "Stealing Athena" perfectly satisfied my curiosity to know the circumstances surrounding the removal of the Elgin Marbles to England. While I can't say I believe they belong in England instead of Greece, it is clear that without the removal they either would have been destroyed for building materials or removed by Napoleon (which would have saved them also so I guess that would have been fine.)

All in all this is an incredibly enjoyable novel that not only describes the creation, history and preservation of the world's greatest monuments but of two amazing women who had a great deal to do with it. I highly recommend this to fans of ancient history, more modern history, women's history, Greek history and anything to do with antiquities

Five stars.

Now I get to go and read Essex's other novels!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overburdened with details, March 16, 2009

By 

Linda A. Slott "Ladyslott" (Oceanside, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stealing Athena: A Novel (Hardcover)

Stealing Athena tells the story of two women, Aspasia, courtesan to Pericles, the famous politician who spent his lifetime seeing that beautiful monuments to the Gods were built in Greece; and Mary Elgin whose husband Robert Elgin would spend many years of his life trying to bring all of Greece's art to England. Through these women's eyes we learn of all that went into building the Parthenon, a temple to Athena and all that went into the deconstruction of the Parthenon 2000 years later, when Lord Elgin removed many of the marble friezes and had them sent to England, where they are today, known as The Elgin Marbles.

I should have loved this book, as I am a huge fan of historical fiction, particularly those focusing on ancient Rome and Greece, and those set in Victorian England. I was however disappointed in this book. The two stories did not seem to mesh well together and none of the characters came alive for me. The writing was often so descriptive, with so many minor details, the story would lose momentum. I never really cared for anyone in the book and struggled to finish reading it. At over 450 pages, what this book needed was a good editor to tighten up the story.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A million little details, March 3, 2009

By 

Debbie - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Stealing Athena: A Novel (Hardcover)

This book started out well enough. In the first few chapters I liked Mary and was intrigued by Elgin. By the time I was half way through with the book, however, I was not only bored to tears but irritated as well.

The boring part: this is based on the true story of the removal of several Greek sculptures (the Elgin Marbles) from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin when he was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Interesting...right? Should be....but the author's reliance on huge chunks of clunky dialogue to convey the history of the sculptures makes it boring in the extreme. Ms. Essex obviously did her homework: every detail about the sculptures creation in ancient Athens, their eventual removal to England, and the personal lives of Elgin, Mary, Perikles and Aspasia, is somehow squeezed into the overburdened plot, usually through unrealistic wordy dialogue.

The irritating part: With very few exceptions every man who lays eyes on Mary falls instantly in love or lust with her: Capitan Pasha, the Sultan, Sebastiani, Ferguson. Because they all played a part in the history of the Elgin Marbles, they all parade into the plot, they fall in love with or lust after Mary, and then, with the exception of Ferguson, they all parade out never to be heard from again. Since the author spent so much time on these characters I kept expecting and hoping they would reappear (they were also much more interesting than the main characters). It was contrived in the extreme.

Not a good example of historical fiction. Should have saved my money and googled the Elgin Marbles instead.