Book: Clytemnestra

 Book: Clytemnestra

Author: Costanza Casati

Pages: 512

This is my 12th read for the year

What Amazon says:

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant.  You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods.  You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own.  Because this was not the first offense against you.  This was not the life you ever deserved.  And this will not be your undoing.  Slowly, you plot.  But when your husband returns in triump, you become a woman with a choice.  Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both.  So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution.  For you understood something long ago that the others never did.  If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.

This book was excellent.  I was captivated from the beginning to the end.  It is very well written and the characters are well developed.  I love how the author took a character from Greek Mythology and made her the main character.  All the women in this book are powerful who still have to deal with powerful men who try to make them less.  I love that Clytemenstra bides her time - using her power as a queen to build trust in her advisors and the people she rules.  Just a great story and I have a feeling this will be one of my favorite books this year.

Stars: 5