STEP ASIDE, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA:  PERICLES AND ASPASIA —THE LOVE STORY THAT SHAPED HISTORY Two lovers crest the wave of the golden age of Athens: Pericles, statesman and general, and Aspasia, his courtesan, a philosopher's daughter, and a brilliant woman in her own right. In a world of hierarchies, he is at the top when she arrives as little more than flotsam cast up on Athenian shores. Their love transcends social sanctions, enduring and deepening despite the grave threat it presents to Pericles' reputation as a leader of the Athenian democracy. The novel unfolds against the background of the arts and history of the Golden Age, seen through the eyes of two individuals who lent their particular brilliance to make it "golden": Pericles, the great orator and visionary of democracy, and its most influential woman, Aspasia. Their story takes them from the Agora-Athens' marketplace to the Acropolis, from the raunchy Athenian Port Piraeus mercantile across the Aegean Sea to East Greece. Pericles and Aspasia—together and apart—navigate treacherous paths from venal calculations to impassioned philosophical inquiry, from high-stakes sea battles to the passions of family life. Pericles and Aspasia engages issues that are vital today—the paradoxes of democracy, the tensions of hierarchy, the ironies of gender, and others—but this novel is immersed in classical Athens: the city, its sunshine, its physical presence, its people, and their struggles and aspirations. The fiction debut of Korshak, a professor at Adelphi University, brings vital life to the golden age of Athens, in a story rich with character, romance, striking historical detail, and spirited public debate on topics foundational to our civilization. The novel centers, as the title suggests, on Pericles, the Athenian statesman and orator known for his democratic values and championing of learning, and his Aspasia, the courtesan whom Pericles will risk his position and reputation to love. "Look at the company he keeps, they'll say of you," the great sculptor Phidias says to Pericles, "whores, philosophers and sculptors." But Korshak makes clear, in memorable scenes, that this supportive partnership didn't just bring them comfort, happiness, and a child: it shaped history. Epic-length as well as the kick-off to a longer series, Pericles and Aspasia offers rousing speeches, naval battles, passionate embraces, rebellion, and political intrigue as Pericles strives to hold together the allied cities of the Athenian League. But Korshak sets her novel apart through its lively evocation of the civic life, art, culture, and gossip that make cities great. The pages pulse with talk that's alternately philosophical, lofty, witty, and dishy. Early on, flirting with Aspasia, Pericles ruminates on how a recent comic play called him "our cucumber-headed Zeus." Much later, he'll ask "So, Aspasia, since you've read Antigone, do you think Sophocles means the autocratic Creon to be me?" This immersion in Athenian life will thrill readers fascinated with the grain of lives far removed from our own—but still concerned with similar pressing issues of justice and governance. Historic notables (Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippodamus) never make mere cameos: they inveigh, debate, even—especially in the case of that ol' gadfly Socrates—joke. "I could prove you're more expert, but by winning the argument, I'd lose it," he says, drawing a clear line from 5th century B.C. to Shakespeare's clowns to Groucho Marx. A stellar, epic-length evocation of the golden age of Athens, rich with historical insight. Great for fans of Christian Meier's Athens: A Portrait of the City in its Golden Age , Mary Renault. —Editor's Pick, BookLife . . . an entertaining tale about this celebrated couple, offering information about the real Aspasia that is generally unknown. An insightful depiction of a passionate relationship and a dynamic statesman. —Kirkus Reviews . . . a vibrant novel that bears the hallmarks of similar writers, such as Madeline Miller (author of Circe and The Song of Achilles ). Breathtaking in execution, exquisite in detail, realistic in interpretation . . . I can't recommend this book enough. —The Bookish Historian Yvonne Korshak received her BA cum laude from Harvard, and her MA in Classics and Classical Archaeology and PhD in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley.As a professor at Adelphi University, she has taught Art History and topics in the Humanities, served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, Director of the Honors Program in Liberal Studies and Director of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. She has written and spoken widely on topics of Greek art and archaeology and on European painting, particularly on van Gogh, Courbet and David. Her blog, "Let's Talk Off-Broadway," focuses on art and theater.She has excavated at Old Corinth, Greece and, to write this novel, has followed in the tracks of Peri