Claire Nicholls

What does Greece mean to you?

Midnight Express.

You said you knew the Greek myths as a child.

They seem to be something that capture all children.

What do you think it is about these tales that are so invigorating for us?

So when was that?

When did you first sit down to read the Iliad?

I hate to be very simple here, Jan, but for those of us who have still not read The Iliad, what are the basics?

What's the basics of this story that we actually need to know?

But do you think there's something there in that so little facts perhaps make for a better story than we could have if we had more detail?

Exactly.

Your story is Son of Nobody.

In this book, we have an academic who finds what he believes is an untold version of the Troy story, and this is told by the commoner, Soas.

So this is entirely your creation, Jan Martell, and Soas is the son of nobody.

Who is this character?

This is The Book Show on ABC Radio National.

I'm Claire Nicholls, and I had the great pleasure of meeting the Canadian author Jan Martel at the Sydney Writers' Festival.

We talked about his latest novel, Son of Nobody, and as you're hearing, it is in part a retelling of the Iliad, but from the perspective of a commoner.

For this guy, Soas, this commoner who's been part of this 10-year war, what does it do to this story of the Iliad to have that perspective of an ordinary guy who's there for, you know, because he was told to be there?

What does that do to the story?