A reimagination of one of the most famous stories in all of literature-Achilles's slaughter and desecration of hector, And Priam's attempt to ransom his son's body In Homer's "The iliad"-ransom is the first novel in more...A reimagination of one of the most famous stories in all of literature-Achilles's slaughter and desecration of hector, And Priam's attempt to ransom his son's body In Homer's "The iliad"-ransom is the first novel in more than a decade from David Malouf, Arguably Australia's greatest living writer. A novel of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, "Ransom "Tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved patroclus in the siege of troy; And Priam, king of troy, whose son hector killed patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles.