Claire Heywood's debut novel is an inspired addition to the growing genre of literature which retells the Greek myths from a more feminist perspective. The novel charts the lives of two women- Klytemnestra and Helen - from their early childhood, through to the events with which they are most famously associated – Helen's liaison with Paris and subsequent flight to Troy and Klytemnestra's murderous relationship with her husband.
As a teacher who has the wonderful job of teaching Classics to groups of teenaged students, it is always refreshing to think about a character from a different perspective. Heywood's Helen is vividly drawn and I was struck by how she managed to create someone who evokes both sympathy and frustration in equal measure. Helen's decision to abscond with Paris is foregrounded by an exploration of the effects of Helen's childhood, where her mother is distant, and the difficulties of childbirth. From a modern perspective, it seems that Heywood is encouraging us to view Helen as perhaps suffering from some form of post-natal depression. What I liked though, was the fact that she does not seek to absolve Helen from blame. Helen is portrayed as rather self-absorbed and naïve and it was very enjoyable reading something which asks the reader to view events through the eyes of such a complex character.
My favourite part of this novel was the portrayal of Klytemnestra. She is a character who is rather unsympathetically dealt with by the ancient authors and the version presented by Heywood is of a woman pushed into terrible actions through no real fault of her own. Knowing how the story has to end does not ruin this novel. In fact, it helps to create a sense of anxiety as you read and Heywood does a great job with how she builds upon existing literature and tradition with events of her own invention. These feel very authentic and the pace is perfect in building towards the climax of the story.
The only criticism that I could level at this book is that I felt it could have been ended a little later in the life of Klytemnestra. I would have liked to have seen how Heywood might have handled the reaction of Orestes and Elektra to their father's murder. However, I felt that Helen's story had a perfect ending as it helped to underline her character in that she was able to move on and forget about the war, leaving the reader frustrated at her self-absorption. I will be recommending this book to my own students, but I would be careful about lending it to some younger readers as some of the discussions of sex might be a little adult for them. However, this is not gratuitous and is essential for the story that Heywood is building. Overall, I enjoyed it very much. This book is a real page-turner and it will be interesting to see where Heywood goes next.
Open access
