Goddess of Yesterday by Caroline B. Cooney

***** 5 Stars

The book takes place in ancient Greece. Anaxandra is the daughter of the chieftan of a small Island in the Agean Sea. At age six she is taken as a hostage by King Nicander to be a friend to his daughter who is physically disabled (they call it crippled then). Six years later, at age 12 pirates attack the island and she is the only survivor. Then King Menelaus from Sparta comes to discover what is happened. Anaxandra pretends that she is the princess to survive. King Nicander takes Anaxandra back to Sparta with him to be another friend to his 9 year old daughter. Queen Helen (the king's wife) does not believe she is the princess. She is scared Queen Helen will find out because the Queen's father is Zeus, king of the Gods. 

Then the trojan princes, Paris and Aenas come to the island to visit. King Menelus meanwhile leaves the island. Paris and Helen fall in love and their affair makes Sparta and Troy in war. Anaxandra continues to struggle against Helen and ends up saving the Helen's son , the two year old prince.

Recommendation:   If you like Greek mythology (like I do) and the trojan war you will love this story. It puts the trojan war in a whole new light- the characters come to life when Helen is horrible and Paris is an idiot.