The House of Atreus is spiralling into self-destruction—a woman must find a way to break the family curse. 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 to once more 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.
Author Bio:
Susan C Wilson has a degree in journalism from Napier University and a diploma in classical studies from the Open University. She has worked in such environments as the Scottish Courts and the Scottish Parliament. As a writer she loves to explore what makes us human: the eternal motivations, desires and instincts that cross time and place. She also aims to make ancient stories resonate with a modern audience, through historical fiction and contemporary retellings. Her debut novel, The House of Atreus: Clytemnestra’s Bind was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition 2019 and will be published by Neem Tree Press in June 2023. This is the first of an epic trilogy and explores the Greek myth of Queen Clytemnestra from a feminist perspective.
Author Twitter: @BronzeAgeWummin
Author Instagram: susancwilsonauthor
My thoughts: Greek tragedy is full of unhappy women and tragic families, the House of Atreus is particularly full of terrible deaths. Atreus murdered his nephews and fed them to their father, who brought an army to tear down Atreus. Agamemnon and Menelaus’ avenged their father’s murder and seized the throne of Mycenae, but then Agamemnon did something terrible in order to garner a fair wind for the attack on Troy – yes that one.
This book follows the story of Agamemnon’s wife, the unhappy Clytemnestra. Her first husband, Tantalus, is murdered by Agamemnon (his cousin) as is her infant son, and she is forced to marry their killer. Menelaus marries her sister Helen, who eloped to Troy with Paris and started off that whole war.
Agamemnon is not kind or loving, not to his wife or their children. He’s a bully and a killer, so it’s no surprise Clytemnestra falls for his foster-brother, with whom she plots his downfall, should he survive Troy.
The play cycle The Orestaia (named for their son Orestes) is where this story is most familiar to me – from studying it at uni many years ago, and of course from The Iliad. So it was interesting to actually get Clytemnestra’s perspective. She’s a character in these earlier works, but like most Greek women in the poems and plays, she’s mostly silent. Things happen to her, she has little agency.
This book gives some of that back to her. It’s a violent, bloody story but that was the world she lived in. One where murder and revenge play out in every day life.
Her love for her children, Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes, as well as her murdered infant son, are what sustain her through her horrible marriage to Agamemnon. It will be interesting to see how the author chooses to tell the next part of this bloody and brutal tale.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 