A decent addition to the Iliad-retelling genre. It's a little clumsy in parts - I'd hide the intensive research just a little more, keep it suffusing the narrative rather than showcased in it - and lacks the absolute brio of Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships or Claire North's recent Ithaca; but I very much liked the additional and background narrative - and particularly the depiction of Helen, who's almost always portrayed in seductress mode. And let's face it, Clytemnestra needs a rewrite.

The story of Clytemnestra has always fascinated me. Costanza Casati’s debut is the first book I’ve read where we see the events directly from Clytemnestra’s perspective and the effect is haunting. We follow Clytemnestra’s early life in Sparta through to her first marriage and then second more infamous partnership. What I loved about this book was the attention Casati gives to Clytemnestra’s family, most notably Helen, but also her mother Leda, her sister Timandra, her brothers and her father. I loved the relationship between Clytemnestra and Helen, the latter of whom I’ve always felt too mythical to be realistically portrayed. Here, Helen is very much flesh and I really felt the love between the two sisters and the tension that arises from their desire to be seen and valued for who are they as opposed to what they represent. This desire is at odds with the patriarchal society they live in and some of the more difficult scenes in this book are driven by the men who are threatened by their power. There’s something about this story that lingers long after I’ve finished reading it. This isn’t just due to the beautiful writing, but probably from how contemporary the themes in this book are (beauty as both a blessing and a curse, along with how controversial it is even in this day to be both powerful and a woman). Overall, Clytemnestra was a stunning read and I’m very much looking forward to Casati’s next book.