Daughter of Aphrodite

by Brenda Jagger

A courtesan in love with a charioteer must take on wealthier lovers to make a living.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance

277 pages, Hardcover

Published February 16, 1981

About the author

Brenda Jagger was born on 1936 in Yorkshire, England, UK, which was the setting for many of her books including her famous ‘Barforth’ family saga. The recurring central themes of her work are marriage, womanhood, class, identity, and money in the Victorian Era. Her work has been praised for its compelling plots and moving storylines as well as its exacting emotional descriptions. Her later novel A Song Twice Over won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 1986.

Married, she had three daughters. Worked in Paris and as a probation officer in the north of England. She passed away in 1986.

Reviews

[Barbara Lennox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just finished a reread of Brenda Jagger's Antonia, I just had to dive into Daughter of Aphrodite, which is set in a slightly earlier period of Roman history, the later years of Tiberias' reign. Again, this is a fabulous book, full of complex rounded characters, a labyrinthine plot, and wonderful writing. The main character is a young courtesan trying to make her way and protect her family in a world of treachery and tragedy, vice and honour. An excellent read. If I have one criticism is that the book could have done with a family tree since the relationships between the various members of the Emperor's family are very complex and I kept forgetting who was related to who and why. But it's a minor criticism and didn't in any way reduce my enjoyment of this marvellous book.