David Malouf - Ransom

The story of how Patroclus came to be the friend and companion of Achilles occupies only half a dozen lines in the Iliad; the bare facts of how a small survivor of war, Podarces, came to be Priam (‘the ransomed one’ or ‘the price paid’), King of Troy, an equally brief passage, referring to the exploits of Hercules, in The Library , a history of mythology sometimes attributed, falsely it seems, to Apollodorus (born c . 180 BC). How a simple carter, Somax, for one day became the Trojan herald Idaeus, and Priam’s companion on his journey to the Greek camp, appears for the first time in the pages of this book.

My thanks to Alison Samuel at Chatto & Windus in London, to Meredith Curnow and Julian Welch at Knopf, Sydney, and yet again to Chris Edwards, whose encouragement, and keen eye and ear, have been essential to Ransom from its earliest completed draft.

David Malouf is the author of, among other works, Dream Stuff, Remembering Babylon, An Imaginary Life , and The Conversations at Curlow Creek . Honors he has received include the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Australia-Asia Literary Award, the Prix Femina Étranger, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He lives in Australia.