Betrayal, Trickery, and the Trojan War: An Exclusive Guest Post from Jennifer Saint, Author of Elektra, Our May Book Club Pick

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The Trojan War is one of the most popular and well-known subjects in mythology. The drawn-out, bloody conflict that stretched over ten long years has it all: dramatic and tragic deaths, heroes battling to win immortal glory, betrayal and trickery, powerful gods and goddesses intervening to save their favourites and strike down their enemies, culminating at last in the annihilation of the doomed city. All of this was apparently sparked by the infidelity (or abduction) of the famed beauty, Helen of Sparta – giving rise to an enduring misogynistic narrative that heaps all the blame for the devastation wreaked by men upon a woman who is an object of both fervent desire and powerful resentment. 

In recent years, new retellings of the Trojan War myths have turned established assumptions and traditional interpretations on their head. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is a dazzling, lyrical and illuminating take on the relationship between the great hero Achilles and his lover Patroclus. Other retellings shift the focus by spotlighting the female experience of war. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes gives voice to all the women – Greek, Trojan, mortal and divine – who endured or oversaw the conflict in a dizzying, captivating novel that starts in the fires that blaze in the fallen city and widens the scope to encompass an array of moving, funny and insightful perspectives. Pat Barker, meanwhile, infuses the character of Briseis – who in Homer’s Iliad is no more than a prize to be passed between the Greek fighters – with so much life in her unflinching novel The Silence of the Girls, recently followed up by The Women of Troy.  

In my novel Elektra, the Trojan war rages in the background, forging the destinies of three women in particular. These are three strong and defiant women whose stories deserve to be heard. First there is Clytemnestra, a notorious example of a terrible wife and the kind of woman most feared by the patriarchy. She’s married to the Greek king Agamemnon who betrays her in the most unthinkable way before he sails to Troy. Instead of waiting faithfully for his return from war, Clytemnestra seizes the opportunity to take power for herself and to plan a merciless revenge upon her husband. Then there is Cassandra, the Trojan priestess who has been cursed by Apollo to see the future but never be believed. Cassandra alone knows what will become of her city and, dismissed and reviled as a hysterical madwoman by her fellow citizens, she wrestles against its terrible fate. Finally, there is Elektra, the youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, who yearns for the time before war. Scarred by loss and blind to the true nature of her father, she is determined to restore the family honour and bring justice to Mycenae, whatever the cost. These women have been maligned or diminished in history and I felt it was time for them to take centre stage and to shine a new light on this legendary war.