Yann Martel

Come on.

So he goes to Oxford, and he hopes to bring back loot, in a sense, to bring back riches, and it doesn't work out that way.

And he does the same mistake that Agamemnon does.

The first victim... It's interesting, in a very...

masculine epic.

There's an interesting layering of the feminine.

The very first victim of the Trojan War was a woman, and the very last victim is a woman.

Iphigenia is murdered at Aulis.

She's the daughter of Agamemnon, and the Greeks offend Artemis, and she says, you will not sail across the ocean until you sacrifice your daughter, Agamemnon.

So he lures Iphigenia over, and she's sacrificed.

That's the beginning of the Trojan War.

And then there's someone

a daughter of Prime who's sacrificed at the very end to once again assure that they can cross.

In a sense, Harlow does the same thing.

One of the things that the book tries to explore is, and I think it's something we all live with, is how do you balance work and family and life?

So I feel that here.

I'm touring on 20 days in Australia and New Zealand.

I've been away 20 days from my four children.

I hate it.

I miss my youngest son Jasper's first football game.