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ELECTRA by Kerry Greenwood

ELECTRA

by Kerry Greenwood

Pub Date: Dec. 3rd, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4642-0211-7
Publisher: Poisoned Pen

Troy is in ruins, but the gods are not done playing games with men and women.

Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, is among the captives taken to Mycenae by King Agamemnon. She's followed by her faithful lovers, the healer Chryse and the Trojan sailor Eumides. As they attempt to enter the palace, they meet Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, and his faithless spouse, Clytemnestra. When Electra hears of Cassandra’s prophecy that her father will be murdered by her mother, she rushes with Cassandra's lovers to her parents’ rooms in time to save Cassandra but not her father. Electra and her brother Orestes flee the palace along with Cassandra and her lovers and set off for Delphi. Electra, who has been brought up as a chaste maiden sheltered from the world, is shocked by her companions’ lifestyles but continues with them on the dangerous journey, all the while plotting revenge against her mother. The Sybil gives good news to Cassandra, Chryse and Eumides and tells Orestes that when Mycenae, like Troy, lies in ruins, he will find his rightful place. Electra, however, gets only a cryptic message promising a long, painful journey. In Delphi, Electra meets her cousin Pylades, who takes her and Orestes to live at his farm. Still plagued with painful dreams, Electra reveals that she was raped as a child by her mother’s lover and that Orestes is her son. While Electra tries to find a new life with Pylades, her three companions set off to find a place they can all live in happiness. They will all meet again before their fates are finally decided.

The last in Greenwood’s Delphic Women series (Cassandra, 2013, etc.) again presents exciting, cleverly detailed ancient stories from a feminist viewpoint that seems just as likely to be accurate as the versions that came before.