A follow-up to Are They Singing in Sparta? carrying on with the further stories of Kassia, daughter of Lady Alethea and of Leon, the squire-slave of Agesandros. I really enjoyed this novel, not quite as much as the original, but this was a thoughtful book, bringing up the theme of beauty--outer and inner. Mere physical beauty can be shallow.

In a raid on Messenia, the women are captured: among them, Niobe, a beautiful royal concubine and Nika, her ugly body slave. Nika, Leon's first battle prize ever, is brought back to Alethea's and Agasandros's home to serve in the kitchen where she's needed. Niobe is taken as prize by a Spartan prince, Anaxilas. Anaxilos turns out to be a superficial, immature person and equally as self-absorbed as Niobe. From the first, she cannot and will not adjust to her slave status. After displeasing the royal family, she is taken to the estate to serve there instead. Niobe's selfish attitude about her entitlement to the best treatment and her beauty lead to conflict among the women on the estate--jealousy, resentment, hatred. Much of the novel is taken up with "women's concerns"--marriage and childbirth. Is the forthcoming union between Anaxilos and Kassia suitable or unsuitable? Both find out in their own way. The book also deals with Alethea's difficult childbirth and an inexperienced surgeon.

This novel will stay with me for a long time! In a simple story, the author has given us in her theme much to ponder. The characters for the most part, were Schrader's sympathetic Spartans. I'm sure, after millennia, emotions and reactions haven't changed all that much. Some of the ending seemed weak, but I wonder if the author had "painted herself into a corner." If only certain of the characters had been stronger emotionally and been more forthright... ( )