Book Nook - Pericles and Aspasia

 For lovers of Ancient Greece, a famous general and courtesan's epic love story is reimagined in Yvonne Korshak's debut historical fiction, Pericles and Aspasia. The novel immerses readers in a time of radical new ideals through the epic love story of a general known as "the first citizen of Athens" and a courtesan with the mind of a philosopher.

A tale of courtesans, philosophers, cunning political statesmen during a period in Greece when democracy bloomed and of architectural wonders, Pericles and Aspasia is a literary feat, with a love story to rival Anthony and Cleopatra's. A historical re-imagining of the lives of a brilliant general and statesman Pericles and Aspasia a courtesan and philosopher's daughter. In a world of hierarchies, they meet when he is at the top, in Athens after a military campaign and she arrives as little more than flotsam cast up on Athenian shores. Fascinated by Aspasia's educated mind and intellectual ideals, Pericles sees more than the courtesan's obvious offerings - she has a mind to rival his own. And the courage to create a better society. Their love transcends social sanctions, enduring and deepening despite the grave threat it presents to Pericles' reputation as a leader of the Athenian democracy.

Pericles and Aspasia is the first in her upcoming trilogy with Caryatid Imprint, with the second The Sword of the War God spins forward the underlying tragedy also set in Ancient Greece.

About the author

Yvonne Korshak received her B.A. with honors from Harvard University, Masters in Classics and Classical Archaeology and PhD in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley. As a professor at Adelphi University, she has taught Art History and topics in the Humanities, served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Director of the Honors Program in Liberal Studies, and Director of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. She has written and spoken widely on topics of Greek art and archaeology and on European painting, particularly on van Gogh, Courbet, and David. Her blog, "Let's Talk Off-Broadway," focuses on art and theater.

She has excavated at Old Corinth, Greece, and has visited almost all the cities, towns, landscapes, and seascapes in Greece-and what today is Turkey-that figure in Pericles and Aspasia.