goddess of yesterday by caroline b cooney

As a child, I had read that Helen was kidnapped from Sparta. As there are many variations in the story of Helen and Paris, Cooney is free to use her artistic license to choose the version that fits best to her story. Assuming yet another princess’ identity, Anaxandra pretends to be Helen’s daughter Hermione so she can follow them to Troy. Anaxandra finds herself thrust into the very heart of Greek lore when Helen leaves Menelaus to follow Paris to Troy. Anaxandra tries hard to conceal her true identity, but it’s difficult to keep her secret from the half-goddess Helen, wife of Menelaus. Anaxandra does not bother to correct the king, and is taken to Sparta. Menelaus, the King of Sparta, arrives to find the little girl and mistakes her for Princess Callisto. She calls out for the help of her “goddess of yesterday,” Medusa, and it’s a gimmick that Cooney employs throughout the novel to good use. The young girl is left to fend her herself. Six years later, Anaxandra is content with her life, until pirates ransack the island, leaving Callisto and Nicander for dead, and kidnapping Petra.

When Anaxandra inadvertently reveals the place of her father’s treasure, she loses all value as a hostage and lives with the king, his wife, Petra, and their invalid daughter, Callisto. Anaxandra is taken hostage when she is six years old by a king named Nicander.

Set in Greece during the Golden Age, the novel depicts a girl being thrown into the most exciting chapters of Greek mythology. With her newest novel, however, Cooney leaves behind the minute-by-minute scenario premises and soapy writing of her earlier novels to reveal her truest talents. (A series carried a bit too far, but alas, this is not the topic of this review).

Cooney is best known for her enjoyable but middle-grade teen thriller novels and the Janie series spawned by A Face on the Milk Carton.

Goddess of yesterday by caroline b cooney