26 Nov Book Review The Immigrant Queen Peter Taylor-Gooby #HistoricalFiction #AncientGreece #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: PETER TAYLOR-GOOBY

I’m delighted to welcome Peter Taylor-Gooby as the featured author in The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour, being held between November 5th – November 26th, 2024. He is the author of the Historical Fiction, The Immigrant Queen, published on 28th October 2024 byTroubador (312 pages).

Below are highlights of The Immigrant Queen, Peter Taylor-Gooby’s author bio, and my 5-star review of his novel with powerful themes of political corruption, social inequity, and redemption in the newly formed democracy in ancient Athens.

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2024/10/blog-tour-the-immigrant-queen-by-peter-taylor-gooby.html

HIGHLIGHTS: THE IMMIGRANT QUEEN

The Immigrant Queen
By Peter Taylor-Gooby

Blurb:

Hated as a foreigner, despised as a woman, she became First Lady of Athens.

Aspasia falls passionately in love with Pericles, the leading statesman of Fifth Century Athens. Artists, writers and thinkers flock to her salon. She hides her past as a sex-worker, trafficked to the city, and becomes Pericles’ lover.

Her writings attract the attention of Socrates, and she becomes the only woman to join his circle. She is known throughout the city for her beauty and wit and strives to become recognised as an intellectual alongside men.

Pericles’ enemies attack him through Aspasia and charge her with blasphemy. As a foreigner she faces execution, but her impassioned address to the jury shames the city and saves her. Pericles is spellbound, they marry, and she becomes First Lady of Athens.

Sparta besieges the city; plague breaks out and Pericles is once again in danger.

THE IMMIGRANT QUEEN tells the true story of how Aspasia rose to become the First Lady of Athens and triumphed against all the odds.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link

Paperback Buy Links:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Immigrant-Queen-Peter-Taylor-Gooby/dp/1836280602/

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-immigrant-queen/peter-taylor-gooby/9781836280606

https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/historical/the-immigrant-queen

AUTHOR BIO: PETER TAYLOR-GOOBY

Peter Taylor-Gooby is an academic who believes that you can only truly understand the issues that matter through your feelings, your imagination and your compassion. That’s why he writes novels as well as research monographs. He worked in India as a teacher, in a Newcastle social security office and as an antique dealer.

Now he’s professor of social policy at the University of Kent, a Fellow of the British Academy, loves playing with his grandchildren and writes novels in what time is spare.

Author Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.taylorgooby/  

Troubadour Author Page: https://troubador.co.uk/author/glndwnle

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Taylor-Gooby

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001HD2YWQ

BOOK REVIEW: THE IMMIGRANT QUEEN

The Immigrant Queen by Peter Taylor-Gooby provides a glimpse into one of the foremost Greek women, Aspasia, mentioned by historians and philosophers in fifth-century Athens. Born in Melitus, she moved to Athens and became a courtesan, then the wife of Pericles, a foremost general and statesman in the era. The story is told from the first-person perspective of an educated bard, Limander, who was recently captured during a Greek assault on his city and sold as a slave to Aspasia.

Limander slowly wins the trust of his mistress, Aspasia, who has him sing epic poems at functions attended by Greek philosophers and politicians. He soon learns that the newly formed democracy only applies to a minority of Athenian male citizens whereas the rights of outsiders (immigrants), women, and slaves are relegated to inferior roles in a caste system. He witnesses the growing attraction between Aspasia and Pericles and her influence on the statesman to treat her as an equal in a society where women have few legal rights. She converses with philosophers such as Socrates. At one of the functions held by Aspasia, Limander meets and falls in love with a nobleman from a disgraced family. Both he and Aspasia face challenges and possibly deadly consequences as a result of their forbidden relationships with people of higher status.

Author Taylor-Gooby has masterfully written a story that resonates with powerful themes that are relevant today. The story centers around Limander, a slave whom Greeks view as not having a soul. He is an engaging witness to the exploits of Aspasia and the social injustices in a newly formed democracy. He tramps through the various areas of the city from the extravagant dwellings of the aristocrats, into the crammed makeshift dwellings of outsiders, and to a hidden cavern where Ananke, the goddess of necessity, is worshipped.

One of the most poignant scenes is when Limander saves Pericles from drowning after a shipwreck. Pericles asks why a slave would save him, a general who had destroyed his city. Limander answers, “Because I am also a man, my Lord. Prometheus brought the fire from heaven for both of us…I would have done it for anyone, a general or another slave.” In essence, men and women of all classes share a common humanity and deserve to be treated with dignity.

I highly recommend The Immigrant Queen to anyone interested in ancient historical fiction with powerful themes of political corruption, social inequity, and redemption that are relevant to modern times. The characters from all levels of the caste system in the story are well-developed and engaging, their stories weaving together to show how humanity binds us together despite our social class.

Twitter: @cathiedunn
Instagram & Threads: @thecoffeepotbookclub
Bluesky: @cathiedunn.bsky.social