The Wandering Queen: A Novel of Dido
The story of Queen Dido, legendary founder of the city of Carthage, is retold in surprising and inspiring ways in Claire Heywood’s rapturous novel, The Wandering Queen.
Before she was Dido of Carthage, she was Princess Elissa of Tyre. But when the Tyre king dies, machinations at court work against his wishes for succession, and Elissa’s half-brother Pygmalion ascends the throne. Intrigues against Elissa and her temple priest husband, Zakarbaal, lead to tragedy and Elissa’s decision to leave Tyre and find a new home. Her wanderings with a dedicated group of followers take them to the north coast of Africa, where Elissa founds Carthage (meaning “new city”) and transforms into Queen Dido (Dido meaning “wanderer”).
The chapters alternate between two timelines: Elissa’s former life in Tyre with her husband and Queen Dido’s reign in Carthage at the time of Aeneas’s arrival from the fiery ruins of Troy. This past-and-present narrative approach is effective, with each chapter ending on its own mini-cliffhanger. Heywood’s stirring reimagination of Queen Dido (and the woman she was before) drives this soulful narrative of a heart seeking its final harbor. Most surprising—considering the timeless legend of Dido and Aeneas—is how small a role Aeneas plays in the novel. In Heywood’s telling, it is the touching love story of Elissa and Zakarbaal that features and informs much of what follows.
The Wandering Queen is a deliciously written tale that gets inside the heart and mind of one of antiquity’s most tragic heroines, with some alternative twists added in for good measure.
