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Stealing Athena
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
9 posts | 3 read | 2 to read
The author of the bestselling Leonardos 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 citys 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 husbands 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 historys most influential and fascinating women.
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ElizaMarie
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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:) I listened to most of this on the way home 🏡 to visit (about a 5.5 hour drive) also I listened on my drive and from work (which is where I do most of my audio books 🚗)

#bookishbingo #audiobookbingo

review
ElizaMarie
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
Pickpick

This was such a good book! I am glad that I was studying #Greek this month for my #20for20 #NewYearNewYou . I wouldn't have even heard of it or have read it unless it was part of this challenge for me. This book made me mad at times because women had no rights to their bodies. You married then you were property and if you make your husband upset he can totally ruin your life just because. Okay so it still happens today at times, but its just sad!

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ElizaMarie
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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Already a rough day at work! But enjoying listening to this during my morning snack :)

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ElizaMarie
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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I picked this one up as part of my Greek month for my #20for20 #NewYearNewYou goals. I read a couple of reviews on this one and it sounds like something I will enjoy. Also I can use it during my commute (yay!)

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Bibliophile.93
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed this book, but I simply cannot get over how it is possible that women had so few, let's say NO rights, to thier own property once they were married. 😟

Stealing Athena was a satisfactory portrayal of two women who lived a millennium apart yet still suffered the same challenges.

Essex writes with confidence and an intimate tone that makes the period and the characters come alive.

★★★★

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Bibliophile.93
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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“She was keen on the idea that a strong mind, enforced with a strong will, could overcome any difficulty.”

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Bibliophile.93
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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Honestly, these last two weeks have been extremly stressful for me but now it's time for one little reward. 🙊😍😊

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sofiaga
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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My godmother got me a rocking chair for me to read and since it is finally summer I can use it now

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sofiaga
Stealing Athena | Karen Essex
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It's a rainy Sunday so I am starting a new book.