Son Of Nobody

Son of Nobody by Yann Martel is a fiercely imaginative literary fiction novel that rethinks the Trojan War through the eyes of someone history usually forgets. When Canadian classicist Harlow Donne lands a coveted post at Oxford University, he expects dusty fragments and quiet breakthroughs. Instead, deep in the Bodleian Library, he discovers an unknown epic: The Psoad, a poem narrated by Psoas, an ordinary man swept up in the machinery of legend.

As Harlow translates and annotates the text for his daughter, Helen, the ancient world begins to speak back to the present. What unfolds is a layered, moving story about myth and memory, storytelling and truth, and the private costs behind public histories—shot through with homesickness, ambition, love and grief.

Perfect for readers drawn to Greek mythology retellings, historical fiction with Oxford academia, and thoughtful, formally inventive novels.

Follow the song into this striking new vision of a foundational myth.