Claire Heywood gives us a fresh perspective from the viewpoint of Helen and Klytemnestra of Sparta and how they lived their lives.Two sisters parted. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in Greek Mythology. Through all the hardships, they stayed strong and fierce even when they felt deflated or hopeless. It gave me a deeper insight into the lives of these brave women and the conditions they faced.

Unfortunately, they were thrown aside, seen as nothing more than an accomplishment. “Without protest or violence, Helen had finally been won.”Īn overall sense of foreshadowing is clear here as most readers are aware of what has yet to come.Īfter they were married off, any happiness they may have experienced with their new husbands vanished. Once the girls were of eligible age to marry, there was no hesitation. Lord Tyndareos even threw a competition for Helen’s hand in marriage, but she was still unable to choose. The girls had little to no say in who they were to be betrothed to. Women had little control over their lives in Ancient Greece, which is particularly evident here. “In her heart she knew it was the last time she would ever see her family.” Throughout the novel, Helen and Klytemnestra long to see one another again. Klytemnestra, the original heiress, is then married off to the king of Mycanae, Lord Agamemnon.Īs a married woman, she is not allowed to travel and visit her family. However, due to certain circumstances, their father, Lord Tyndareos, decided that Helen was the rightful heir to the Spartan throne. Klytemnestra and her mother had a strong bond between them as she was her firstborn and the rightful heiress. Unlike most novels, Heywood includes stories from the girls’ perspective and the relationships they had as Greek royalty.ĭaughters of Sparta gave me a better understanding of the relationships the girls had with their parents along with the general power dynamic of the palace.

This story follows the lives of the sisters and the choices they made that ultimately led to war over the young Spartan heiress Helen (more commonly known as Helen of Troy). Womanhood was strange and painful and humiliating, and there was no going back.”ĭaughters of Sparta is a heart-wrenching re-telling of sisters, Helen and Klytemnestra of Sparta, and the prejudices they faced as women in Ancient Greece. National Emerging Writer Programme Overviewĭaughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood is published with Hodder & Staughton and is described as ‘perfect for readers of Circe and Ariadne, a vivid and illuminating retelling of the Siege of Troy that tells the story of mythology’s most vilified women from their own mouths at long last’.

Daughters of sparta