Review - Hector and Anatolius by Vanessa Mulberry

In Homer’s epic recounting of the Trojan war, the Iliad, prince Hector was Troy’s greatest warrior but, he tends to excite little interest from modern day authors looking for inspiration. “Hector and Anatolius” tells the story of Hector before the Greeks, or even Helen, arrive. Hector is the dutiful son and heir to king Priam in most respects, except in his resistance to find a woman to marry. His inclinations lie in another direction entirely.

One day while on a tour of outlying villages, Hector meets Anatolius, a beautiful young man who instantly steals his heart. The inexperienced Anatolius returns Hector’s feelings, but the path to a relationship is not an easy one for these two lovers.

“Hector and Anatolius” is quite an unusual tale. Although it follows a relatively familiar romance formula, it does manage to spring quite a few surprises along the way. The choice of Hector as a leading character is the first and most obvious sign that this book is going to be a little different. Most historical fiction writers focus on the Greeks and just use Troy as a backdrop. This book puts Troy right in the center, and doesn’t even mention the Greeks.

A standard fixture of most romance plots is some twist, such as a revelation or act by one of the main characters that threatens to pull the two protagonists apart. This story pushes that device to extremes that you wouldn’t think to see in most books. Of course, testing boundaries is easy when you have the Gods of Olympus to set things right, and if there’s a complaint to make about the story line, it’s that divine intervention is a little too convenient.

“Hector and Anatolius” is available from Amazon.