posted on 17 Jun 2021

The Corinthian Girl by Christina Balit

I can’t believe that there are very many people over the age of about 5 who have never heard of the Olympic Games but how many can say the same about Heraean Games? Well, I have to confess that until I read Christina Balit’s The Corinthian Girl I was also one of the uninitiated – but now I know that this was a competition exclusively for women and that very little information about them has survived. What we do know is that:

“They were held in the Olympic Stadium, organised by a group of sixteen married women and included foot-races for young and unmarried girls, in three age groups. The runners’ hair was loose, they wore short tunics with the right shoulder and breast bare, and ran barefoot.”

Christina Balit uses the fragments of historical records to reconstruct the fictional tale of the Coronthian Girl, a young slave girl who eventually earned the name of Chloris. In telling the story of how Chloris makes her way to success and fame at the Heraean Games, young readers will also get a lot of fascinating – and quite distressing – history about how girl babies and children were regarded and treated in Ancient Greece. This is a great history lesson smuggled in behind an engaging and fascinating personal story.

Although this is an interesting story in its own right, it has to be said that it’s the lavish illustration that really makes this book fly. The illustrations are colourful and stylised in a way that recalls the lines and forms of classical Greek sculpture and the kinds of illustration that has frequently been used to decorate later copies of Homer’s great epics.

As I have already suggested, this is a book that will appeal to a wide age range – including adults. I can see how this would make a great addition to any school library but I’m sure it would also be a great one for parent and child to read together at home.

The book is published in June and can be ordered from your local independent bookshop or ordered directly from the publisher, Otter-Barry on their website.

 

Terry Potter

June 2021