The Priestess and the Slave 'looks at the political turmoil of fifth century BC Greece through the eyes of two women, one a slave and one a farmer's daughter who became a Pythia in her fifties. The novella intertwines the stories of Perialla, the Pythia at Delphi who was bribed by the Spartan king Kleomenes around 491BC, and Harmonia, a slave looking after the family which owned her, during the devastating Plague of Athens (which broke out in the second year of the Peloponnesian War). The two women never meet, but their very different stories echo and complement one another.' (from the publisher's website)
