The Missing Thread cover art

The Missing Thread

A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It

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The Missing Thread

By: Daisy Dunn
Narrated by: Daisy Dunn, Summer Green
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About this listen

 'A brilliant concept, executed with enviable elegance' Lucy Worsley

'A gem of a book. Thanks to Daisy Dunn's elegant and lively retelling of history, the women of the ancient world are restored to the centre of the story of classical antiquity. It was a joy to read.' Peter Frankopan

Spanning 3,000 years, from the birth of Minoan Crete to the death of the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome, a magisterial new history of the ancient world told, for the very first time, through women.

For centuries, men have been writing histories of antiquity filled with warlords, emperors and kings. But when it comes to incorporating women aside from Cleopatra and Boudica, writers have been more comfortable describing mythical heroines than real ones. While Penelope and Helen of Troy live on in the imagination, their real-life counterparts have been relegated to the margins. In The Missing Thread, Daisy Dunn inverts this tradition and puts the women of history at the centre of the narrative.

These pages present Enheduanna, the earliest named author, the poet Sappho and Telesilla, who defended her city from attack. Here is Artemisia, sole female commander in the Graeco-Persian Wars, and Cynisca, the first female victor at the Olympic Games. Cleopatra may be the more famous, but Fulvia, Mark Antony's wife, fought a war on his behalf. Many other women remain nameless but integral. Through new examination of the sources combined with vivid storytelling Daisy Dunn shows us the ancient world through fresh eyes, and introduces us to an incredible cast of ancient women, weavers of an entire world.©2024 Daisy Dunn (P)2024 Orion Publishing Group Limited Ancient Europe Greece Rome Women Ancient History Ancient Greece War Military

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the text itself is wonderful but the narration is terrible: why not research the words before reading them aloud - and at least if you're going to be incorrect then be consistent with it! I will recommend the book happily, but not the audiobook, I'm afraid. I nearly launched my headphones in anger too many times

great review of ancient history

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This book is very interesting and a great idea, but the narrative bounces around a lot so it's quite hard to follow the thread through each chapter.

As others have mentioned, the narration is full of unfortunate and avoidable pronunciation errors that distract from the narrative.

Great idea, but unclear thread

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Listener beware: This is an interesting book but the reading is full of repeated, frequent mispronunciation of names and fairly common words such as "tribune" (pronounced all the way through as TRY-bune). Did no-one bother to check?

Very flawed narration

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There's very little depth here, & although some of the stories about women (especially during the Macedonian era) are interesting, there is little original scholarship here.

The frequent mispronounciations by the narrator add to the unserious impression, especially the inability to settle on a single phoneme for the Roman "C", leading to comic turns such as Seepio Africanus and Luchullus.

Unsatisfying

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