This story begins with Achilles mourning the death of Patroclus (who is described as his kinsman, cousin or lover in various books and films) during the Trojan War.

Achilles (partly due to the nostalgia stirred up when he mistakes Priam for his own father, Peleus) agrees, and the exchange is made.

The story ends with a flash forward to Priams' inglorious death at the hands of Achilles' son, Neoptolemus.

The character Somax, who drives the cart Priam rides en route to his negotiations with Achilles, is not mentioned in the original text.

[3] The book received positive reviews from the New York Times Book Review, the Dallas Morning News, the New Yorker, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal and many other publications[4]