Helen of Troy by Margaret George✔✔✔✔

This book has been sitting on my shelf for close to three years, and every once in a while I'd look at it, then put it back on the shelf. This time, I chose to read it, probably because , once again, I wasn't looking for anything too involved. I already have George's "Mary, Queen of Scots", and I may also have had "Mary Magdalene" at one time, too, but it probably ended up in the Museum book sale. ( When you know the beginning, middle and end of the story, it's not all that entertaining)

At some 635 pages, "Helen of Troy" was a long read, but thoroughly enjoyable. This is a story I really didn't know - oh, I knew "the face that launched a thousand ships" part, many of the characters' names were familiar to me, probably from teaching Grade Nine English many, many years ago, I certainly knew about the famous "horse", plus the fact that Troy was ravaged in the end by the Greeks, but not much else. I didn't know how Helen and Paris met - it is a wonderful love story- I didn't know Helen may not ever have even existed, and certainly didn't know much about life in those ancient days, so all in all, I brought a lot of curiosity to this read, and my curiosity was certainly satisfied.

George has done her research very well, and the story of these people comes alive on the pages. I enjoy historical fiction, first because it informs me in an entertaining, easy-to-read style, and secondly because it's a quick, easy read. Now I'd like to read George's "The Autobiography of Henry VIII."