A beautiful retelling of Clytemnestra’s story.
WHAT’S THE BOOK ABOUT
Queen Clytemnestra’s world shatters when Agamemnon, a rival to the throne of Mycenae, storms her palace, destroys her family and claims not only the throne but Clytemnestra herself.
Tormented by her loss, she vows to do all she can to protect the children born from her unhappy marriage to Agamemnon. But when her husband casts his ruthless gaze towards the wealthy citadel of Troy, his ambitions threaten, once more, to destroy the family Clytemnestra loves.
From one of Greek mythology’s most reviled characters—a woman who challenged the absolute power of men—comes this fiery tale of power, family rivalry and a mother’s burning love.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Before reading this book, I was familiar with the story of Agamemnon and Menalaus, but I had never read Clytemnestra’s story before.
Clytemnestra’s Bind by Susan C Wilson presented me with the perfect opportunity to get acquainted with this important historical figure. Agamemnon brutally murders her first husband and first newborn child, yet she tolerates this abusive man to protect her children born from him.
Her journey of motherhood starts with Iphigenia, her eldest daughter. The author’s vivid prose takes the reader along this journey. While Iphigenia is the child Clytemnestra had always wanted, her next child, Electra, inherits her father’s nature, which saddens her, yet she does her best to guide Electra on the right path. You could easily have been reading a memoir of a mother while reading these passages.
Agamemnon’s dislike for his daughters weighs heavily on their psyche causing Iphigenia to become more docile and making Electra more determined to gain her father’s love which was always unsuccessful resulting in her lashing out at her mother. Yet Clytemnestra takes everything in her stride.
Then comes along Orestes, a son whose birth fulfills Agamemnon’s desire of an heir. His doting on Orestes stands out starkly against his neglect for his daughters.
Clytemnestra may have been vilified as a vengeful woman. However, it’s important to understand what led her to behave in such a manner. She was married to a despicable man who destroyed her beloved family, not once but twice. The trauma that she went through by staying in an abusive marriage would have destroyed any other woman but not Clytemnestra.
Clytemnestra’s Bind is a beautifully written story, and I am looking forward to reading the sequels in this series. Highly recommended.
BOOK DETAILS
Genre: Greek Mythology || Pages: 300 || Published on June 15, 2023 by Neem Tree Press
AUTHOR BIO
Susan C Wilson is a working-class Scottish writer. Her lifelong passion for ancient Greece was ignited as a child by stumbling across stories of gods and heroes in the dictionary. She loves to explore what makes us human: the eternal motivations, desires and instincts that cross time and place.
She has a degree in journalism from Napier University and, in preparation for writing her novels, gained a diploma in classical studies from the Open University. Clytemnestra’s Bind, her debut novel, was long-listed for the Mslexia Novel Competition 2019. It is the first in The House of Atreus trilogy and will be published by Neem Tree Press in June 2023.
Author Link(s): Website
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