As their relationship grows, the Mycenaean king, Agamemnon, calls on the various Achaeans to join his military campaign against Troy, whose prince Paris has kidnapped his brother Menelaus's wife, Helen.

However, out of sensitivity, Achilles largely avoids interacting with Briseis directly because he had killed the men in her family, but she and Patroclus develop a close friendship verging on romance, ultimately settling into a devoted sibling relationship.

He stubbornly demands a public apology, refusing to come to the aid of the Greeks, who are on the verge of defeat.

Patroclus, who has grown close to the soldiers as a field medic and sympathizes with their losses, attempts and fails to convince Achilles to rejoin the battle.

Instead, Patroclus impersonates Achilles by donning his armor and leads his men into battle; the offensive forces a Trojan retreat.

She found that she was particularly intrigued by Patroclus, a minor character who ultimately has a significant influence on the outcome of the Trojan War.

[1] Drawing from this source material, Miller sought to write a story about who Patroclus was and what he meant to Achilles.

[2] In addition to the Iliad, Miller drew inspiration from the writings of Ovid, Virgil, Sophocles, Apollodorus, Euripides, and Aeschylus, as well as accounts of Achilles's childhood friendship with Patroclus and his martial training.

Miller drew inspiration for this departure from the Achilleid by Statius, stating, "To me, the two have always resonated as peers, so that was the tradition I followed.

[6] Prosenotes gave it a "A" (91%) based on critic reviews with a consensus saying, "Madeline Miller manages to craft a compelling love story while sticking very closely to Homer’s “Iliad”.

"[12] Mary Doria Russell similarly praised the novel in her review for The Washington Post, favorably citing its "prose as clean and spare as the driving poetry of Homer.

"[13] In his review for The Dallas Morning News , Brian Woolley stated "Even for a scholar of Greek literature, which Miller is, rewriting the Western world’s first and greatest war novel is an awesome task to undertake.

[3] Carolyn Kellogg of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was a surprise win, with Miller being "the dark horse in this year's race".