I’m delighted to be welcoming Peter Taylor-Gooby to Novel Kicks. We are shining a light on his latest book, The Immigrant Queen.

Hated as a foreigner, despised as a woman, I became First Lady of Athens

Aspasia falls passionately in love with Pericles, the leading statesman of Fifth Century Athens. Artists, writers and thinkers frequent her salon. She hides her past as a sex-worker, trafficked to the city, and becomes Pericles’ lover. Her writings attract the attention of Socrates, and she becomes the only woman to join his circle. She is known throughout the city for her beauty and wit and strives to become recognised as an intellectual alongside men.

Pericles’ enemies attack him through Aspasia and charge her with blasphemy. As a foreigner she faces execution, but her impassioned address to the jury shames the city and saves her. Pericles is spellbound, they marry, and she becomes First Lady of Athens.

Sparta besieges the city; plague breaks out and Pericles is once again in danger.

The Immigrant Queen tells the true story of how Aspasia rose to become the First Lady of Athens and triumphed against all the odds.

Peter has kindly shared an extract from The Immigrant Queen with us all today. We hope you enjoy. 

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Limander, a slave and bard to Aspasia, meets a young nobleman and falls for him. Love between slave and noble carries the death penalty.

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The young scribe was last to leave and I waited, head bowed, for him to go so that I could carry out the screens. A gold band circled the neck of his tunic – he was of high standing in Athens, from one of the five noble families of the city. He dropped the stylus into his satchel but the tablet slipped from his fingers and fell face down on the floor and I heard the crack as the wax split across. He stared at it as if terrified, dropped to all fours and put out a hand to touch it. A leader of the people does not behave like this. After a moment I went over and stood beside him.

‘Sir. May I help you?’

He looked up at me, his eyes moist with tears. He seemed so young.

‘The musician! None of them appreciated you, you sang so beautifully of love and all they want to do is talk about politics and speech-making.’

‘Thank you. But, if I may ask, sir, is there anything I can do for you?’

‘It’s Lord Pericles, no-one will understand. He wants to publish these conversations for the glory of Athens and he insists on checking everything. I am late already and now I’ve broken the tablet and he will be angry.’

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