I wasn’t sure what to expect from this author, but I love a Greek mythology retelling, so I requested an ARC.

There are only a few brave flowers, growing between the cracks, their petals white against the darkness of the ravine.I had the immense privilege to read this novel in advance… 5 stars is not enough to describe how much I loved it! These are the many labels that can be applied to Clytemnestra, but to understand each one you must first be told her entire story and the suffering that featured throughout it. I thought it was interesting of the author to put little subtleties in where the reader gets the impression that Agamemnon does love Clytemnestra but he does it in such a selfish way, the whole killing her first husband and child because he wanted her.

Constanza Casati's Clytemnestra focuses on the life of the title character, known in mythology as the vengeful wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, Greece. Clytemnestra used the time to solidify her ruling in Mycenae and the traitor to Agamemnon and his brother, Aegisthus, shows up and Clytemnestra and him start an affair. The last part has Clytemnestra abandoned by her long time guard Leon because of her affair with Aegisthus and her daughter Electra hating her and her son Orestes emitting some of those brewing danger feelings. Wandering Souls begins in the late 1970s in Vietnam, with the oldest daughter of the family, Anh, making the journey with two of her brothers to a refugee camp in Hong Kong.The author provides family trees at the beginning of the novel and a glossary of terms at the end, both of which are helpful resources. Though the author does not resort to any form of exaggerated sentimentality, it is impossible to remain unaffected by Clytemnestra's story. I love me a powerful female protagonist and Clytemnestra proved herself to be one, very early on in the telling of this tale.

Costanza Casati removes Clytemnestra from her sister Helen of Troy’s shadow and skillfully weaves together historical details, mythological elements, and psychological insights, breathing new life into a well-known tale. The writing was beautiful and stayed true to the lyrical format/prose of old mythology, while managing to modernize some of the language. Through a subplot involving the gods and omens, the priest Calchas said the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. There are large time jumps — ranging from a few months to fifteen years — between sections of Clytemnestra’s story. There is something I find so beautiful about stories that weave motherhood into them in such a unique and positive way.Known as the daughter of King Tyndareus and Leda, twin sister of Helen, princess of Sparta, and eventual wife of Agamemnon and Queen of Mycenae, Clytemnestra has been portrayed as a schemer and murderer. This war begins because Paris, Prince of Troy, entices Queen Helen to leave her husband, King Menelaus and her young daughter in Sparta. The author did a really good job of making the reader throw their lot in with Clytemnestra and feel that the things she does are inevitable considering how she has been wronged. Before moving to London, she attended a classical Liceo in Italy, where she studied Ancient Greek, and Ancient Greek literature, for five years. This is definitely a Greek mythology retelling I'll be holding up as a new favourite within the genre.

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. By the end, we desire not only for her to claim justice and to have her revenge, but for it to be wild and fierce, and to set her free.It is just fascinating and fabulous that a woman of Greek Mythology can be so notorious and talked about, but yet has had such a small voice and has been type casted and condemned (traditionally). When we meet Clytemnestra, she is a young princess of Sparta; a hunter and fighter who is close to her family, especially to her sister, Helen, the famed beauty who later flees for Troy.