Clytemnestra

Costanza Casati has chosen a much-reviled character from Greek mythology to base her debut novel on: Clytemnestra (#1,204).  Here she has retold this story of wrongs and revenge with a sympathetic eye in a compelling narrative.  

Raised in Sparta, Clytemnestra eventually becomes the wife of Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks in the Trojan War.  His brother Menelaus is married to her sister, Helen.  But in order to sail off to Troy, Agamemnon sacrifices his oldest daughter Iphigenia to raise a favorable wind.  Clytemnestra is devastated, and vows to rule Mycenae in his absence.  It gives her plenty of time to plot her revenge.

Her story isn't pretty, but is typical of the way women were disregarded in the ancient world.  You'll recognize the names of most of the players in this book, but Ms. Casati helps to straighten out the often tangled relationships.

It's a big book, but I wanted to find out what would happen next, and how Clytemnestra would react.  It's reawakened my interest in Greek mythology.  I can't wait to read The Iliad.