Claire Heywood
Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood is the story of two sisters who have prominent roles in Greek mythology—Klytemnestra and Helen. The novel opens with them as young girls growing up in Sparta. The chapters alternate between the two sisters, giving each one’s perspective and interiority as the events unfold.
Klytemnestra is portrayed as more level-headed than her flighty but beautiful younger sister. She enjoys a strong bond with her sister and parents, especially with her mother. Helen wrestles with the sense her mother resents her, but she doesn’t know why. She internalizes this by frequently referring to herself as beautiful but unlovable. Eventually their father marries each sister off to a suitable partner to consolidate his political power. Klytemnestra is parceled off to Agamemnon; Helen is parceled off to his brother, Menelaos. Klytemnestra locates to Mycenea with Agamemnon; Helen remains in Sparta with Menelaos. The sisters never reunite.
Each sister enters her marriage with fear but with hopes of leading a fulfilling married life. And each experiences a rude awakening when confronted with patriarchal double standards and gender hierarchy. Agamemnon physically and mentally abuses Klytemnestra and is unfaithful to her. Helen feels Menelaos deprives her of affection, reinforcing her belief she is beautiful but unlovable.
Heywood weaves events familiar to readers of Greek mythology into the narrative, but she modifies them. Unfortunately, they aren’t given the substance and weight of the originals. They are handled in a perfunctory manner in diction that is tepid. The narrative suffers from too much telling and too little showing. The pacing is uneven and lacks consistency. The main problem, however, lies in the depiction of characters, none of whom is fully-developed. This is especially true of Klytemnestra and Helen who never come alive. They are one-dimensional, bland, and lack energy and spark. They are depicted as little more than pawns in the hands of men who either bully them into submission or win them over with vacuous flattery.
The Klytemnestra of Greek mythology is a fierce mother, hell-bent on revenge. Here, she is portrayed as weak and hesitant, equivocating between should I or shouldn’t I kill the man who murdered my daughter. Helen, who famously launches a thousand ships, is flighty, self-absorbed, and silly. She runs off with the first handsome stranger who ogles at her beauty without considering the consequences of her actions.
As her debut novel, the author deserves credit for attempting a re-telling of two powerful women in Greek mythology. But by turning them into weak, timid women who are more acted upon than acting, she deprives them of their mythical stature, diminishing their agency, power, and complexity.