Clytemnestra
“Survival, strength and courage are your duties,” the King of Sparta tells the girls (including his daughters) training to wrestle just like their brothers. From childhood, the intelligent Clytemnestra is fearless in speaking her mind and wielding a dagger or spear – useful attributes in a world where complex familial distrust and murder swirl like murky fog. Destined to become a queen, her path is strewn with tragedy. When the exiled brothers Menelaus and Agamemnon arrive as guests in Sparta, Clytemnestra’s happiness is destroyed: her young husband and baby are murdered by Agamemnon, with the support of her father. Her sister Helen foolishly accepts Menelaus as a husband, and Clytemnestra is forced into marriage with the cruel Agamemnon. Although the birth of subsequent children brings her some comfort in the alien, conservative kingdom of Mycenae, Agamemnon’s shocking decision to sacrifice their beautiful daughter Iphigenia ignites a visceral desire for revenge upon those who have wronged her. Casati’s writing fairly sizzles with Clytemnestra’s fury. Even her closest relationships are beset by doubt and distrust.
Use of present tense narration makes for a tense, roller-coaster read; the only reason to put it down is to draw breath. The dialogue is satisfyingly credible, creating unforgettable characterisation. Clytemnestra is portrayed with compassion, her suffering so vivid and her desire for retribution so understandable. Casati’s atmospheric imagining of the palace environments of Sparta and Mycenae is sensually superb: the public great halls, private women’s quarters, bath houses, clothing, music, meals, weather, and landscapes are all portrayed in lucent prose with striking, fresh imagery. Ancient Greece, with all its compelling characters and stories, comes alive in this wonderful debut novel. I found it one of the best of the recent “Women from the Greek Myths” genre.
