The Sweet Girl

By Annabel Lyon

A bold and captivating new novel of ancient Greece, from the celebrated, award-winning author of The Golden Mean.

Pythias is her father's daughter, with eyes his exact shade of unlovely, intelligent grey. A slave to his own curiosity and intellect, Aristotle has never been able to resist wit in another--even in a girl child who should be content with the kitchen, the loom and a life dictated by the womb. And oh his little Pytho is smart, able to best his own students in debate and match wits with a roomful of Athenian philosophers. Is she a freak or a harbinger of what women can really be? Pythias must suffer that argument, but she is also (mostly) secure in her father's regard.

But then Alexander dies a thousand miles from Athens, and sentiment turns against anyone associated with him, most especially his famous Macedonian-born teacher. Aristotle and his family are forced to flee to Chalcis, a garrison town. Ailing, mourning and broken in spirit, Aristotle soon dies. And his orphaned daughter, only 16, finds out that the world is a place of superstition, not logic, and that a girl can be played upon by gods and goddesses, as much as by grown men and women. To safely journey to a place in which she can be everything she truly is, Aristotle's daughter will need every ounce of wit she possesses, but also grace and the capacity to love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307359469

Reviews for The Sweet Girl

[janerawoof · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Title is quite ironic: Pythias, the heroine, daughter of Aristotle, is anything but sweet: prickly and feisty might be more like it. We see her childhood in a happy home; Aristotle respects her mind and teaches her. When Alexander dies, as Macedonians, the family leaves Athens for Calchis where Aristotle has property, neglected though it is. He dies and Pythias is left to fend for herself, becoming priestess, helper to a midwife, then a courtesan. In the last part, she marries her cousin, a soldier back from the war, with what we'd call PSTD, and they try to make a life together with him taking up farming. The story ends on perhaps a note of cautious optimism.s

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pythias, has been fortunate enough to grow up under the tutelage of one of the greatest minds of her time, her father, Aristotle. Encouraged by her father to learn, read, and explore, Pythias does not have the average life of a young woman growing up in 4th Century BC Athens. Her favorite activity is collecting wildlife specimens and placing their skeletons back together. When Aristotle's once student, now King, Alexander the Great dies, resentment against Macedonians, including Aristotle and his family, grows. Aristotle moves the family to Chalcis and a new chapter begins for Pythias.This is a coming of age story for Pythias. Seeing that this took place in ancient Greece, the story and characters could have been very difficult to relate to. Luckily, Pythias was a wonderful character, she was very easy to relate to for me; it's great to have a female character who was encouraged to learn her entire life, even in this time period. Annabel Lyon's writing style transformed life in ancient Greece seamlessly, I enjoyed reading about daily life, rituals and customs of families at the time. As Pythias' character grows, she has different issues to face, and while there may be no grand adventure, Pythias must overcome several trials for a younger women in Greece and who is alone; she uses her strengths wisely and carves out a life for herself. Parts of Pythias' journey surprised me a bit, as well as the ending, but it is true to history. This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[triscuit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

somewhat florid, over-the-top, like historical fiction tends to be (IMHO), but gripping and well-written.