Tiffany Yeh Buccholz Period 7&8

Goddess of Yesterday is a mythological fiction written by Caroline

B. Cooney. It was published by Dell-Laurel in 2002, and is 254 pages
long. This novel is told from a servant’s point of view while she is
serving different kings at the time of the Trojan War, including Helen of
Troy.
Caroline B. Cooney’s purpose of Goddess of Yesterday is showing
the perspectives of the people involved in the Trojan War. She focuses
more on the characters and their personality than on the war itself.
Anaxandra is a young girl, daughter of a pirate. She is taken captive by
King Nicander as a playmate for his daughter, Callisto. Nicander and
his family lived in a palace on the island of Siphnos. Like Anaxandra’s
father, King Nicander is a pirate. But on one of their raids, instead of
conquering, he and his men were overthrown and killed. The foreigners
were attacked Siphons, and no one lived except Anaxandra who was
hiding in an underwater cave. After the attackers had left, Anaxandra
was left on the remote island with rotting bodies all around her and no
food. King Menelaus, who Nicander had been a commander to, landed
on the island one day. Anaxandra knew that if she said she was just a
lowly hostage she might be killed, so Anaxandra pretended to be
Princess Callisto, daughter to King Nicander. King Menelaus took pity
and brought her to the main land, his home and palace.
Back in Sparta, where Menelaus lived, was Helen. Anaxandra
knew her from many stories of how she was said to be the daughter of
Zeus, and the most beautiful woman in the world. When Menelaus
introduced Anaxandra to Helen, she became very suspicious. Helen
had met Callisto as a little girl and unlike Anaxandra; Callisto did not
have red fiery hair or blue eyes. She became suspicious and did not
welcome Anaxandra warmly. While talking to a slave, Pyros, Anaxandra
learned about Helen and how she was greatly feared. Helen’s
personality was very cruel and mean. She was also dangerous and had
great power. Pyros compared Helen to a swan; graceful and very
gorgeous to look at, but vicious. Hermione was Helen’s daughter. She
and Anaxandra became close friends and playmates. Anaxandra soon
came to love Pleis. He was the brother of Hermione and just a little
toddler. Menelaus talked about Paris one day, the son of the king of
Troy, and how he was to visit. Behind Menelaus’s back, Paris had an
affair with Helen, and wanted to take her to Troy as his wife. His
chance came when Menelaus was called away. Paris and his army
attacked the palace and killed many people. As Helen betrayed her
people she smiled at the thought that men were dying over her. As she
was leaving, Helen decided to bring along her son and her daughter.
To save Hermione, Anaxandra took her place to give her time to hide.
Now she had stolen the identity of two princesses. When Helen found
out what had happened she was outraged, but did not kill Anaxandra.
Instead she made her shave off all her beautiful hair and be bald in
public. To men and women, hair was your pride, which ashamed
Anaxandra greatly. In Troy, Anaxandra befriended Cassandra, Paris’s
sister. Cassandra was cursed by Apollo at birth. She could foretell the
future, but no matter how many times her predictions came true, no
one would believe her. Anaxandra was one exception. She agreed that
Helen would be the downfall to Troy.
During their stay in Troy, Paris had many murder attempts at
Pleis. He did not want Menelaus’s son living, and tried to make Pleis’s
deaths look like accidents. Luckily, Anaxandra was protecting him, and
caught Paris before anything serious had happened. She had tried
sneaking Pleis back to the Greek camp to return him to Menelaus but
was caught by Trojan soldiers. They accused her as a spy and locked
her up under Athena’s temple. Anaxandra disguised herself as a
shepherd and found an opening leading away from the underground.
Cassandra helped her escape, and she reached Menelaus safely.
I think Caroline B. Cooney did a good job of achieving her
purpose. She brought a whole new look and personality to Helen and
many other characters. A few strengths of Goddess of Yesterday are
the details, and emotions set between people. Readers were able to
feel the tension between Anaxandra and her enemy. Overall, Goddess
of Yesterday was very interesting and captivated my attention. This
book would be a good recommendation to others, because it changes
reader’s look and perspective on the Trojan War.