Daughters of Sparta-Claire Heywood

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book as I just love Greek Mythology!

This book re-tells the story of the Siege of Troy through two famous women of mythology, Klytemnestra and Helen. Both princesses of Sparta, privileged and beautiful, there are envied but cannot command their own destinies. Both married off to infamous Kings, they have to produce heirs and do their duty as Queens. They both free themselves from their constraints in different ways and their choices lead to events that echo through millennia.

I have to say I was utterly absorbed into this powerful story, told through the voices of Nestra and Helen. I really liked Klytemnestra, the eldest of the two sisters. She is kind, thinks of her family and her duty but has a feminist streak in her which I loved. Helen felt more selfish to me, she knows she is beautiful and when she is left as heiress, men come to compete for her as a marriage prize.
She seems to relish this, it is interesting that women are almost compelled in their roles from a young age to be ready for marriage, sex, children and generally to do the bidding of men. It frankly makes me rage! They are not thought of as people but as chattels to be bartered and used.

‘𝐒𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫.’

Even though these women are high born, they are as used as slaves like Agatha, to sate male desire. This sickened me, what women endured in these times is unbearable to think of and made me angry.

‘𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬,’ ‘ 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬.’

As the story progressed, my framing of the characters changed. For Helen, who describes post-natal depression symptoms and the fear and horror of having to bear another child, she was literally meant to get back in the saddle and produce more heirs. It is horrifying that they are subjected to this, that the mans right to a woman’s body overrides everything else. I liked her more for her attempts to prevent a pregnancy but she is a more selfish character to her sister.
Helen leaves for Troy with Paris, blinded by his beauty and love for her not realising the effect this will have - like ripples on a pond.
It leads to war between the Greeks and Troy, with Nestra losing her daughter as a sacrifice and leading her to make a life changing decision. I liked seeing her breaking free of the constraints of her husband, his cruelty and ambition more important to him than his own family.

‘𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚’

Yet still they are manipulated by the men around them. Nestra forms an alliance with Aigisthos - manipulated by her love and need to protect her children.
Helen realising that she is just another trophy to a man - and returns to Sparta but they are both ultimately blamed for the men decisions.

These two women had stories to tell, although famous they are vilified, mainly because history is written by men. Their stories are vividly brought to life here to give us understanding of what it meant to be a woman in these times. This story is immensely detailed and brutal. It shows how they were shackled but eventually realising the strengths and power that they have are able to break free.

‘𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰….𝐀 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐀 𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐲𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐞.’

This was a fabulously detailed and powerful story and a brilliant edition to the mythology canon. I cannot wait to read more by this author!

✩✩✩✩✩

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With thanks to @mariagluc @hodderbooks and @claireheywoodauthor for my copy of this book

Daughters of Sparta is a retelling of the events leading to the Trojan War and the war itself, from the perspective of Helen of Troy and her infamous sister, Klytemnestra. I was excited to start this as I am a fan of The Iliad and always appreciate a feminist retelling. I did like the book overall but it was underwhelming for me.

It was well-written and easy to read but it felt like there were many scenes missing and a lack of character depth. For as much as we read about both sisters, neither had very defining personalities, aside from their attitudes to motherhood. I felt like creative liberties could have been taken to make them more three-dimensional characters.

I also wish we could have started the Trojan War part sooner. I know the importance of establishing their lives before the war but it did become repetitive. And once the war started, the events were quite rushed, including the sacking of Troy, which is a key moment that should've been explored more.

However, I liked the book overall and it was interesting to read from different perspectives regardless. I didn't know much about Klytemnestra before so I liked learning more about her life. All in all, it was a solid debut novel by Claire Heywood and I am curious to see what she comes out with next.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I was very excited when I was granted access to this ARC but it fell short for me. I had trouble getting in to it and I actually dnf:ed it.

Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

I've been hearing a bit of buzz about this on the old social media circuit so I allowed myself a break from researching my dissertation to read it.

The book's 'Daughters of Sparta' are sisters Klytemnestra and Helen who need no introduction if you're a massive Classics nerd like me. We get each of their points of view throughout the story from early childhood through to Agamemnon's return from The Trojan War. I'm not really going to mark spoilers here because these stories are literally thousands of years old.

The good:

The writing flows well and the book is easy and engaging to read. I think younger readers would find it accessible and engaging to read.

The author clearly knows their stuff and I liked how there were little nuggets of historical knowledge peppered throughout the story e.g. the representation of The Trojans and the setting of Mycenea.

The whole section that dealt with the death of Iphigenia was really affecting. Reader, I cried. Maybe it's because I've just had a baby and my hormones are crazy but it was heartbreaking.

Agamemnon was portrayed true to character in the sense that he was a massive chode.

The not so good:

I had some issues with the characterisation of Helen and Klytemnestra. Helen in particular was a bit of drip. It's always going to be difficult to portray someone who has pretty much always been portrayed as an idea rather than a person but she was just SO passive, the impact of which was her character being constantly absolved of any of her actions just by her sheer lack of agency and personality. Bad stuff happens to her and she just...goes with the flow. It would have been nice for her to leave with Paris just because she bloody wanted to. I didn't feel any passion or drive from her, she upturned her whole life, abandoning her husband and child, because she was a bit lonely and scared of having another baby. I think her character would have engaged me more if she had been more selfish and headstrong, it just all felt so safe.

Klytemnestra was stronger but again, where was the fire? This is a woman who fantasized about killing her husband for over a decade but again just dithers back and fore and lets stuff happen to her.

Kassandra's characterisation was also very wishy washy. Where's the crazed prophetess I know and love? Not here sadly. She appears briefly to provide a chum for Helen before shuffling off the mortal coil. Kassandra is such an iconic character but is reduced to almost nothing here.

I also found the pacing didn't quite work. The first 50% revolves around husbands and babies and then the rest of the story feels shoehorned into the second half. The deaths of key characters like Hektor and Paris felt rushed and anticlimactic, particularly in the case of Hektor. Again, this is one of the key moments in western literature but it happens with a whimper rather than a bang.

In a world of Homeric retellings by Colm Toibin, Pat Barker, Natalie Haynes, Simon Armitage and Margaret Atwood I think authors need to do something different but I didn't feel like it went anywhere new enough to elevate it to where I hoped it would go.

Thank you to the author and Hodder and Stoughton for my review copy!

The storytelling in this book is fantastic. The narratives are richly detailed, with the balance between historical accuracy and fictional elements expertly maintained throughout. Much like Madeline Miller's writing, the settings are beautifully described and maintain a kind of mystical element to them.

The dual perspectives of Helen and Klytemnestra are compelling, especially when hearing two different perspectives on the same events, as it was interesting to see how each sister thought the other would act in their situation. Ultimately, I preferred Nestra's narration to Helen's, as I was intrigued by how she acted as Queen in her husband's absence, but that doesn't mean that Helen's sections weren't enjoyable. Helen's story was an intriguing one, as what we saw from her perspective was often different to how her sister percieved a situation. I liked seeing the interactions between Helen and the other Trojan women, especially her friendship with Kassandra.

I did find the time jumps slightly frustrating towards the final third of the book, just because there were parts of the story - such as Nestra's second marriage, and the days after Helen's arrival in Troy - that I would have liked to have seen.

The relationships between the characters and their subsequent developments were at the heart of this book. We follow the sisters from childhood straight through to the bitter end of the Trojan War, and I enjoyed seeing how the decisions that were made either by or for them influenced their characters. Their different experiences of motherhood, for example, brought another interesting layer of contrast to the story that I really enjoyed. No matter how many times I read about the fates of Iphegenia and Kassandra, my heart will always break, and Heywood certainly succeeded in this task!

Overall, this was an enjoyable, character-driven read that was wonderfully written, but it was the time skips that just prevented this from being a 5* read for me.

While I really enjoyed reading "Daughters of Sparta", I found it to be very slow going at the start. A couple of events of fairly major importance that happen early on could have been given a little more "oomph" to improve the pacing. That's just me being picky though. This is a very well written book, with a familiar plot given new life, some solid characters, and a lovely look at Ancient Greece.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood will be published July 22nd with Hodder & Staughton and is described as ‘perfect for readers of Circe and Ariadne, a vivid and illuminating retelling of the Siege of Troy that tells the story of mythology’s most vilified women from their own mouths at long last’ My daughter, Katie, is sharing her thoughts of Daughters of Sparta, so without further ado…

“How stupid she had been. Womanhood was strange and painful and humiliating, and there was no going back.”

Daughters of Sparta is a heart-wrenching re-telling of sisters, Helen and Klytemnestra of Sparta, and the prejudices they faced as women in Ancient Greece. This story follows the lives of the sisters and the choices they made that ultimately led to war over the young Spartan heiress Helen (more commonly known as Helen of Troy). Unlike most novels, Heywood includes stories from the girls’ perspective and the relationships they had as Greek royalty.

Daughters of Sparta gave me a better understanding of the relationships the girls had with their parents along with the general power dynamic of the palace. Klytemnestra and her mother had a strong bond between them as she was her firstborn and the rightful heiress. However, due to certain circumstances, their father, Lord Tyndareos, decided that Helen was the rightful heir to the Spartan throne. Klytemnestra, the original heiress, is then married off to the king of Mycanae, Lord Agamemnon.

As a married woman, she is not allowed to travel and visit her family. Throughout the novel, Helen and Klytemnestra long to see one another again.

“In her heart she knew it was the last time she would ever see her family”

Women had little control over their lives in Ancient Greece, which is particularly evident here. The girls had little to no say in who they were to be betrothed to. Lord Tyndareos even threw a competition for Helen’s hand in marriage, but she was still unable to choose. Once the girls were of eligible age to marry, there was no hesitation. Allies were more important than love.

“Without protest or violence, Helen had finally been won”

An overall sense of foreshadowing is clear here as most readers are aware of what has yet to come.

After they were married off, any happiness they may have experienced with their new husbands vanished. Unfortunately, they were thrown aside, seen as nothing more than an accomplishment.

“Helen of Sparta, the unlovable beauty”

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me a deeper insight into the lives of these brave women and the conditions they faced. Through all the hardships, they stayed strong and fierce even when they felt deflated or hopeless. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Greek Mythology. Claire Heywood gives us a fresh perspective from the viewpoint of Helen and Klytemnestra of Sparta and how they lived their lives.

Well that is one way of kicking myself out of a reading slump, find a book I'm extremely biased to like given that I'm a woman with a love of Greek mythology stemming from childhood. That you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an early copy of this book via NetGalley, I truly appreciate it!
The majority of us know the story of Helen of Troy, the Trojan War etc. I was first introduced to the story in primary school around the age of 9 or 10 when it was the base of our school play. I always take up on books, tv or fil on Greek mythology with great interest and as with all childhood obsessions some of the details have slipped away in the past few years despite the love still being there. What a book to reignite my fire of love for these myths!
It's been lost to my memory or was just omitted from the stories I learned that Helen of Troy ever had a sister. It completely escaped my notice that she had as equally an interesting story. Over the course of this book we explore the minds of Helen and her older sister Klytemnestra over the course of their early lives. It's not a side of the story I've seen explored before and I feel it's a side that everyone should be given and suggested to think about more openly. These women weren't the villains some of the stories lead us to believe. They were women suffering under the rulings of cruel men and suffocating times that is accurate for so many until recent years. You can't help but sympathise and feel angered by the usual focus of these stories is on the bloody Trojan war. But I digress. . .
As I said, following the two sisters. The sharing of perspectives through the story and over the years provides a good balance. As much as I can empathise and change my opinion of Helen she is still vain and selfish whilst her sister is more considerate. You see them grow from childhood to womanhood, motherhood and then the stories we all know. I completely forgot Helen of Troy was supposed to be a mother but her story and how that develops in to the myth we all know is just so incredibly relatable. It's not a new issue and yet women are still met with scorn and judgement for it. Motherhood has a high price to pay and yet we see Klytemnestra pay it again and again. The contrast of their personalities and stories as they become mothers is so refreshing and mind opening as you work your way through the book. I imagine everyone will feel they relate to one more than the other but I can tell you this made me understand more from the other side than ever before.
I suppose I'm being a bit cryptic given it's a story we largely know. I'm talking about childbirth and being a mother. How cut out for it different women are. Unfortunately all women in the past were really considered good for many years ago and that still enrages me. But also, what else was there we had to do? Women's lives were so controlled by the whims of men. I wouldn't have survived it and it makes me think women before had the strength of patience that ascended what any of us do now. That and fear, I suppose.
I'm getting very held up on the reality of women. Don't get me wrong, this book is supposed to have us thinking about the perspective we don't see to often. It was perfect for that. The story telling is well paced, moving across years as needed and looking in on some of the less action filled moments to give you a feel of what more normal life was like for Helen and Klytemnestra and how even that could be trying. I think the dialogue fits well for the time period, though I'm obviously no expert and the writing fit as well. Good descriptions and insights to Helen and Klytemnestra's thoughts.
There is not a lot else to say. It is the story we know, told from the women's perspectives. It is going to challenge how you've thought about it before whilst also confirming the same story you already knew. It was wonderful, captivating and stimulating. I have a rush of want to pick up some more Greek mythology and find some more women of history to look in to. A must read for any fan of Greek mythology, I want all and any special editions!

Retellings of Greek sagas and stories are currently published wide and far. The female point of view is particularly popular, and so we can look forward to another work in this genre. The female characters are dazzling: Clytemnestra and Helen.

But first, let’s take a step back and look at what the source material knows about them. I don’t want to say too many words about Helena, after all she is the better known figure of the two. The most beautiful woman in the world is kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris. This is the beginning of the Trojan War, whose course and heroes are described in epic detail in Homer’s Illiad.

Her sister Clytemnestra, on the other hand, is less well known. Unlike Helen, who is said to have divine origins as the daughter of Zeus, she is the daughter of Tyndareos, the king of Sparta, and his wife Leda. As a young girl she is married to Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, with whom she has children Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes and Chrysothemis.

Claire Heywood approaches the stories of both women from a different viewpoint than the heroic Illiad: „However, my aim in writing this novel was not to argue for the historical reality of Trojan War. Nor was it an attempt to tell a story that is historically true, but rather to tell one that could be described as historically authentic- […].“ (Author’s note)

The gods do not appear here to actually direct events and intervene when necessary. Instead, they are just abstract ideas in a strictly patriarchal society in which women have one primary function: To bear children. Both sisters disappear in the shadows of their husbands and we hardly see them outside their domestic domain.

You might say: They are both so passive! And at first glance, that seems to be justified. But on closer inspection it turns out to be untrue. Those who want to read an adventurous story that follows the Illiad in every detail will be disappointed. The Trojan War is not the main subject here, but these two women of Sparta. Homer did not give much space to either Helen or Clytemnestra in the Illiad. They are merely catalysts for the male-dominated plot.

It is precisely in this very realistic approach, however, that is the great strength and weakness of Daughters of Sparta at the same time. Readers will be divided on the negotiation of themes such as postnatal depression, birth trauma, violence against women and children and the question of women’s autonomy. Of course, neither Clytemnestra nor Helen can simply break off from the society in which they live. They learn early on that every attempt to empowerment is paid for with pain.

In this respect, then, it is true that here too the events are driven by men, but it provides us with the necessary space to answer the question of what may have driven Clytemnestra and Helena to te edg.e: Helen’s flight with Paris and Clytemnestra murdering Agamemnon. Both are the results of years of enduring oppression and being meek in the face of horrible events.

So, is Clytemnestra really the evilest woman of the world because she kills her husband Agamemnon? Or isn’t it rather the revenge of a woman who had to sacrifice more than any other? After all, Agamemnon killed their daughter Iphigenia to curry favour with the gods. Is he then any less guilty?

She swears to the goddess Hera to murder her husband for this deed. But he goes off to war and she has to rule Mycenae until his return. When that day comes, the question of whether she should follow through with her plan arises again. Clytemnestra is still struggling with herself: ‚One crime does not forgive another‘, she argued. ‚I would be comdemned by gods and men! I have already abandoned my sacred duty as his wife, but to desecrate it so completely … I would be known as the most evil woman who ever lived.‘

Agamemnon returns victorious with Cassandra in tow. Clytemnestra throws all doubts overboard. He meets his fate in the bath. We know from ancient writer Aeschylus that she herself will not be safe from revenge by her son Orestes. But Claire Heywood spins a new tale around this after-all-not-so-terrible woman, showing us a very human version of Clytemnestra. Her actions become comprehensible, though no less cruel.

And what about Helena? The Illiad keeps silent about how Helena fares in her new life with Paris. Homer only lets us know that she continues to rule Sparta for a long time after the end of the Trojan War- at Menelaos‘ side. All the more exciting then, to read what Claire Heywood imagines for the flower of Greece – just a hint: He’s not as golden as you might think.

All in all I enjoyed this novel and would put it in a row with other great examples of the same genre such as Ursula Le Guin’s Lavinia or Madeline Miller’s Circe. Just don’t get fooled if you are looking for an adventure-driven love story – you won’t find it here.

A really enjoyable read written from Helen of Troy's point of view. I would definitely recommend this if you are a fan of this genre and you know your Greek mythology.

After reading a few books in this genre in a short space of time I approached this one with some trepidation but for the most part I really enjoyed this one, telling the story of Helen of Troy from her point of view, along wi5h that of her sister Klytemnestra.
I imagine more people have heard of Helen than her sister and I liked their relationship and the insights into their marriages and also the approach to Agamemnon's appalling actions before sailing to Troy.

But by the end too much relied on the reader knowing the story of Nestra, Electra & Orestes. I'm also not sure that the removal of the interference of the Greek Gods made sense to the story. We'll never know if these people really existed but by presenting this as a straight historical novel seems odd, the interference of the Gods explains much that is glossed over here - especially when it comes to Helen.

This sounds negative but I found most of the book a good read, and better than some others in refocusing the story on the women but at the same time the omissions seem odd and the ending abrupt and underwhelming

I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review
This was an intriguing premise but the tale of Helen of Troy never interested me before and trying to branch out and try it anyways in this case did not succeed. I did not care for this at all.

Helen and Klythemnestra are the daughters of the Spartan king Tyndareos and his wife queen Leda. When rumours arrive around Helen’s birth, Klythemnestra, although being the eldest, is forced to marry king Agamemnon of Mycenae. Helen becomes the heir of Sparta and her father receives all the kings of Greece to compete for her hand. The choice falls upon Menelaos, Agamemnon’s brother. Neither marriage will be happy and both sisters will be drawn into the huge conflict of the Trojan War.

I love Greek myth retellings, that’s no secret. Having already read Colm Toibin’s ‘House of Names’ where Klythemnestra and her children appear as main characters, I was curious to see how Heywood would tell her story. Both Helen and Klythemnestra are demonized women. One being the girl that launched a thousand ships and caused the destruction of Troy, the other a husband killer.

‘Daughter of Sparta‘ tells the story of their lives from their youth as happy princesses in their fathers palace until right after the siege of Troy. I’m no fan of the Helen and Paris storyline. But Heywood manages to create some sympathy for Helen, at least until Paris arrives. Then it goes all so fast and her decision is made as quickly as the choice of how she will dress.

Klythemnestra’s story takes us to the Greek shores where she tries to stop her husband killing her daughter Iphigenia as a sacrifice for the Gods. Still, Heywood tries to create a women who is in pain but not full of revenge. This works to a certain extend, but I missed the fury and hate I imagine when thinking about Klythemnestra.

I think the main problem with this novel is maybe that Heywood tries to paint their lives as them being just normal women. And focuses on their unhappy relationship with their husbands. Therefore she omits certain things from the story, especially once we are in Troy. No Achilles, almost no Hector, no Apollo and a Cassandra that doesn’t speak out about her visions.

But still the fall of Troy took my breath away. I always hope this story will end different, but of course it never does. The cruel fate of the women is again described vividly and gave me goosebumps (and reminded me of Pat Barker’s ‘Silence of the girls’).

Maybe, this isn’t the best retelling. But Heywood writes straightforward and can set a small foot next to Miller and Barker in my opinion. Daughters of Sparta takes a moderate approach towards two sisters whose stories have never been told that way.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher to provide me with a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I've been reading a lot about Greek mythology lately and I'm fully hooked on the re-tellings of myths from the perspective of the women. At the moment I'm reading Natalie Haynes' excellent Pandora's Jar and, let me tell you, I have a LOT of thoughts about how Medusa was completely wronged by literally everyone.

Anyway. One of the things I didn't realise before reading Claire Heywood's Daughters of Sparta was that Helen of Troy was originally Helen of Sparta and that she had a sister Clytemnestra (who is also considered a bit of a bad'un in traditional mythology). We all know the famous stories of Troy- face to launch a thousand ships, Achilles, the horse. But we don't really know how Helen felt after she actually left Sparta to run away with an equally beautiful prince.

In this novel, split between the narratives of Helen and Klytemnestra (spelled the Greek way in this re-telling), we learn about the fates of the two sisters, married to a pair of heroic brothers, which take two very different paths after a chance encounter with another very famous Greek hero wrongly sullies Helen's reputation. It doesn't matter if you're the rumoured daughter of ACTUAL Zeus if there are salacious rumours about you doing the rounds. Whereas Helen is beautiful, but flighty, Klytemnestra settles into domestic life. Until, of course, Helen decides to do a moonlight flit and everything goes... a bit wrong for a few years.

Although this book is a good insight into Klytemnestra's story, I felt like I wanted more Helen and more of what she saw and felt during the events that are such a seismic force in the whole of Greek mythology. Paris is present, but often feels like a shadow in comparison to Agamemnon and Menelaus. In contrast to other retellings, the more mythological aspects felt like they were lacking (I was excited to see Cassandra! But then.. she didn't have the famous thing of saying stuff and not being believed, which is the one thing I know about her.) I understand that maybe the author wanted to stick to the more realistic aspects of the stories, but so much of them is so tied up with the gods and goddesses that I expected more of their presence. But! This is personal preference and for those who want a more 'human' approach to these ancient stories, I suspect this is the perfect retelling.

This is a retelling of the story of Troy, before, during, and after the war, centring around Klytemnestra and Helen’s POV.
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Clare does a great job sweeping through the events and the timeline of this tale, and for any newbie to the myth this might be a nice gentle place to start, with an almost historical fiction edge, rather then the vibes found in CIrce and SOA.
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Though for me, I like a bit more bite to my characters, and though I think Clare gives an over arching idea of whose involved I just wanted a little more, but I respect that’s a lot to ask of a book this size, which is ambitiously giving us so much plot.

3 ½ really. I know the stories of the adult Spartan sisters, Clytemnestra and Helen, very well but have never ready any sort of tale regarding their childhood. Having just finished Pat Barker's 'Women of Troy' this was a nice tie-in. Knowing the full myth of the 'House of Atreus' isn't really a spoiler because nothing ever ends well when the gods are involved. You can read this without any prior knowledge of Homer, Greek myths, tragedies etc but I think it all helps. Thanks to Netgalley.

Daughters of Sparta is extremely compelling. I’ve always wanted to know more about Helen – who is such a catalyst in the Homerian epic, but such a passive figure without a voice of her own. Traditionally she is reduced merely to her beauty, when really, she should be presented as a woman in her own right, making decisions that have repercussions rippling across all of Ancient Greece and Troy. And her sister Klytemnestra – famous for murdering her husband – is often similarly pigeonholed due to a single moment in her legendary life, missing all the other moments that led to this one. In this novel, Claire Heywood manages to make the sisters into flawed women, trying to live their lives the best they can.

Neither Helen nor Klytemnestra are presented as heroines – or villainesses, for that matter – in the story. They are simply human. They struggle, they suffer, they make mistakes. And they are at the mercy of men. Because no matter how feminist one wants to present this story, that remains a central aspect of it – both of their lives were heavily driven by the whims of men – fathers, husbands, lovers. And while the reader knows how this story goes, it is after all one that is thousands of years old, Claire Heywood packages it in a compelling voice that leaves the reader captivated and unable to stop reading on. Daughters of Sparta is an excellent example for the magic of strong characterisations and emotional investment being the crucial ingredients in a fantastic book.

Claire Heywood follows in the footsteps of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes (amongst others) by retelling a story from Greek myth from a female viewpoint.
Daughters of Sparta tells the story of two sisters, Klytemnestra and Helen of Sparta (later Helen of Troy).

I personally love the Greek myths and really enjoy the retellings that have become popular in recent years. Daughters of Sparta does a fair job of reimagining the female world of Klytemnestra and Helen, though for people who have already read Circe and A Thousand Ships, it perhaps doesn't quite hit their dizzy story telling heights. Though that may in part be down to the subject matter. Helen of Sparta/Troy is not the most sympathetic character and in fairness to Heywood she addresses this in the book. A woman who left her husband and child and then seemingly sat idly by while hundreds suffered in her name during the Trojan War isn't going to get a round of applause from most people. Heywood does try to offer an explanation for Helen's action and does give her a sense of guilt and shame, particularly over the death of Iphigenia, her own niece, sacrificed by her own father to provide good winds for the boats sailing to Troy.

Klytemnestra's actions when Agamemnon returns from Troy are perhaps more understandable, and she does come off as the more sympathetic character, and what Heywood does do well is show how restricted women's lives were in Ancient Greece and how pointless the rules were. Both Helen and Klytemnestra suffer awfully, one ignoring all the rules and the other obeying, neither receives any reward, both are expected to do their duty, no matter what.

I have quite a collection of these feminist retellings on my bookshelf now and I am looking forward to adding this one to my collection.

Two sisters parted. Two women blamed. Two stories reclaimed.

Claire Heywood’s ‘Daughters of Sparta’ is a moving and at times, heart-wrenching story of Klytemnestra and her younger sister, the infamous Helen of Troy. In the original stories from Greek mythology, female characters are often treated as peripheral figures, their stories overshadowed by the heroic male protagonists. Heywood, as the book’s tagline suggests, wants to address this imbalance and successfully gives the two female characters the attention that they deserve.

Nestra and Helen, as the daughters of the King of Sparta, live a comfortable life in their father’s palace. From a young age, the two girls are taught how to act as the ideal woman in order to prepare them for their future roles as wives and mothers. Nestra as the eldest daughter appears to be willing to accept her role in society and concentrates on making her father proud by being the best daughter that she can be. Helen is presented by Heywood as a naive, innocent young girl and woman, fixated on an idealised notion of finding love and having the perfect union with her husband. This book follows the two girls from their young lives in Sparta right through to their time as married women, mothers and queens of their respective kingdoms.

Sacrifice, societal expectations for women and duty dominate this story and we get to see the women in a new light. They endure unimaginable hardship despite the fact that they are the wives of rulers and struggle with their lives and the decisions and actions of their respective husbands. We see how they struggle with their defined roles as wives and mothers. Heywood’s inclusion of a retelling of the infamous Siege of Troy from a female perspective is fascinating and beautifully written; she captures the claustrophobic feel of the siege not only for the people of Troy but particularly for Helen. She is deemed the root cause for the siege and the misery of the people in the city and struggles to survive in a place where she is hated.

‘Daughters of Sparta’ is the perfect book for fans of ‘The Silence of the Girls‘, ‘Ariadne’ and ‘Circe’. Heywood provides the female protagonists with a new voice. They are no longer the vilified figures represented in the classical mythological stories. We see their world from their perspective which is refreshing. The slower pace of the novel allows the two women to reflect on their lives and the events that unfold before them. If you like character-driven stories, ‘Daughters of Sparta’ is a great read. A fascinating immersion into life in ancient Sparta and Troy.

‘Daughters of Sparta’ will be published on 22nd of July by Hodder and Stoughton.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

I'll admit, this isn't the sort of thing I'd normally read. But, I'm a huge fan of Greek mythology and have recently read The Odyssey, so this seemed like a fun next step, and it was, although still wasn't what I expected.

Much of the story is focused long before The Trojan War, so it was possibly a good study of the lives of woman in Greece, but it didn't necessarily make for a terribly entertaining read. As a study on Ancient Greece, sure, but as an enjoyable fun novel, not so much. I found both main characters to be flat, and there was so much scope for them to be fierce, but it wasn't there.

And ultimately, so much of the myth wasn't used, when there was room and space for it.

So, whilst it was an enjoyable read for what it was, I expected more.