Stealing Athena

A Novel

By: Karen Essex

Narrated by: Susan Denaker

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.©2008 Karen Essex; (P)2008 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Historical fiction at its finest."
—St. Petersburg Times

"A great adventure story. . . . Essex delves deeply into the lives and times of her characters in settings as diverse as ancient Greece and 18th-century Constantinople, France and Great Britain, and her women characters are spirited and memorable.”
—The Times-Picayune

"Stealing Athena expounds on the weight of the past, the power of art, and the strength of women who exercised free will even when they had the fewest rights…. Uniquely relevant."
—Los Angeles Times

Two More of History's Little Known Women

I enjoyed this audiobook, particularly the chapters on Mary Nisbet's story. I wish Aspasia's story had been a little better integrated and her character more fully realized. I am not sure that the narration did justice to the author. The tempo of the narration seemed artificially slow, almost tedious a good bit of the time. But despite this shortcoming, the audiobook brought pleasure. And, I think it is important to support books like this and authors who seem committed to telling women's stories.

Strong women surviving in a man's world.

Based on the true story of Lord and Lady Elgin, who saved the Parthenon marbles from probable destruction during the Ottoman occupation, and transported them to England despite great costs and troubles. The story is intertwined with a story of the building of the Parthenon and the sculpting of the actual marbles. The two women starring in these two paraller tales are strong and independent, and fight hard to make it in a man's world. I think there's some possibilities here for a really good story, but the author's decision to stick to the real life story of Lady Elgin made it only an OK story that seems repetitive at the end. It was still pretty good and worth the read.

not at all interesting

Would you try another book from Karen Essex and/or uncredited?

No I would not buy another book from Karen Essex. I bought her other book, Dracula in love which i did enjoy, however Stealing Athena was not interesting at all.

What was most disappointing about Karen Essex’s story?

It was boring.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of uncredited?

I like the narrator, it was the story I did not like.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Stealing Athena?

I would tell her to start over.

Any additional comments?

I was disappointed because I did like her other book. This one just did not intrest me at all.

let me recommend another Karen Essex

I really like Karen Essex - her Leonardo's Swans was very good read. I wanted to like this but it was so boring. I could not finish it which is rare for me as I always stick it out in hopes things will improve. I made it mostly through but it never got any better. Too much information, boring and the main character, Lady Elgin is unlikeable, self centered and boring. not good.