Ransom
In the final book of the Iliad, Priam, the aged king of Troy, does what no king has done in the stories told before him. Setting aside his armor and his retinue, he puts on plain clothes, fills a cart with treasure, and rides out across the plain to beg Achilles for the body of his son Hector. David Malouf's short 2009 novel fills in the quiet hours on that journey: the mule driver Somax, an ordinary man who has never ridden beside a king, who talks about his own dead sons and about the river and the mules and the cakes his daughter-in-law bakes; Priam, who has only ever been Priam, discovering what it is to be simply a father; and Achilles, grief-hollowed and alone with the body of Patroclus, waiting for something the Greek gods have not yet named.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Ransom
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
After Achilles drags Hector's body around the walls of Troy, the old king Priam loads a cart with treasure, hires a humble carter, and rides out to the Greek camp to beg his son back from his killer.
Yes. Ransom (2009) is a literary retelling of the final book of Homer's Iliad, focused on Priam's nighttime visit to Achilles to retrieve the body of his son Hector. The novel was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Ransom is short, around 220 pages, and uses David Malouf's lyrical prose. Readers do not need to be familiar with the Iliad to follow the story, though it deepens with that context.
Ransom was written by David Malouf, published in 2009 by Penguin Random House.
Ransom is 224 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Ransom takes most readers 3 to 5 hours to finish.
Ransom is a standalone novel by David Malouf, not part of a series.
Ransom is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.