A Spartan’s Sorrow by Hannah Lynn (The Grecian Women Series)

Synopsis
All murders must be avenged.

While the rest of Greece mourns for the war that has taken their husbands away, Clytemnestra fears the day it will bring hers back.

When her husband willingly sacrifices their eldest daughter to appease the Gods, Clytemnestra vows to do whatever it takes to protect her remaining children. But in doing so she faces losing them altogether.

My Review
A Spartan’s Sorrow is the story of Agammemnon, King of Mycenae, leader of the army sent to fight in the Trojan War, and his wife Clytemnestra. To appease the Godess Artemis, who he unitentionally insults, Agamemnon sacrifices his eldest daughter Iphigenia so his ships can set sail. As a mother Clytemnestra is devastated, and over the ten years of the Trojan War fears for her husbands return and fears for her other children. As the years pass she plans to avenge the murder of her daughter, to protect all she holds dear. Told from Clytemnestra’s point of view this is a story of love, loss, betrayal and revenge.

I first came across the myth of Agamemmnon and Clytemnestra when reading Homer’s Odyssey at school. Normally told from the male perspective, Hannah Lynn re-tells this story from Clytemnestra’s point of view. Clytemnestra is a wonderful female lead, she is a princess of Sparta, trained as a warrior, and with Agamemmon away fighting in the Trojan War she is Queen of Mycenae, ruling in her husband’s place. She is a character who is played down in most of the tellings of this story, just seen as a women who betrayed her husband by taking a lover and then being party to her husband’s murder. Hannah Lynn brings her to fore of this book, a woman who has suffered years of physical and mental abuse at the hands of Agamemmnon; he murdered her first husband and child so he could marry her, he sacrificed her eldest daughter and constantly has mistresses. She fears her husband coming home, his abuse of her but more importantly she, like every mother, wants to protect her children, especially her son Orestes.

Hannah Lynn’s prose beautifully captures Clytemnestra and her story. The prose flows beautifully, drawing you into the story and engaging you with the characters and the situation they find themselves. Her research and knowledge of this myth shines though in her writing. There is a lot of detail, in the setting of the Mycenae, the palace and in the characters, their psychology and how events change them and send them towards a horrifying conclusion. I do believe it is important to keep these classic myths alive, they are some of the best stories ever written, and have been around since the Eighth Century BCE when Homer wrote his Odyssey.

I found A Spartan’s Sorrow to be a compelling and immersive read. I found it refreshing to read this story from Clytemnestra’s perspective, and I have to say I had empathy for her, and understood why she did what she did. Like all the best myths this story has it all, tragedy, betrayal, love, revnege and loss; what more could you ask for. I am now excitedly waiting for the third book in Hannah Lynn’s Grecian Women series, Queens of Themiscyria published on April 3rd.