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' complex history through the dynamic narratives of Mary Nisbet, the wife of the Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to Constantinople, and Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, the most powerful man in Athens during that city's Golden Age.
At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the twenty-one-year-old newlywed, 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 Pericles 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.
Genre: Literary Fiction
At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the twenty-one-year-old newlywed, 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 Pericles 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.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Used availability for Karen Essex's Stealing Athena
Hardback Editions
June 2008 : USA Hardback
Paperback Editions
April 2009 : USA Paperback
Audio Editions
September 2008 : Australia Audio edition

Title: Stealing Athena: A Novel
Author(s): Karen Essex
Publisher: Random House Audio
Availability: Amazon AU
September 2008 : Canada Audio edition

Title: Stealing Athena: A Novel
Author(s): Karen Essex
Publisher: Random House Audio
Availability: Amazon CA
September 2008 : UK Audio edition

Title: Stealing Athena: A Novel
Author(s): Karen Essex
Publisher: Random House Audio
Availability: Amazon UK
June 2008 : USA Audio CD

Title: Stealing Athena
Author(s): Karen Essex
ISBN: 0-7393-6630-0 / 978-0-7393-6630-1 (USA edition)
Publisher: Random House (a)
Availability: Amazon AU
Kindle Editions
June 2008 : USA, Australia, Canada, UK Kindle edition