House Of Names by Colm Toibin

 

In this novel, Toibin tells more of the story of the consequences of the battle for Troy.  Agamemnon and Clytemnestra rule the city of Mycenae.  They have three children, Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes.  Agamemnon asks Clytemnestra to come to his battle camp with Iphigenia to see them off but in reality, his plans are to sacrifice Iphigenia to gain favor with the gods.  

After this betrayal, Clytemnestra goes back to the castle and takes a lover.  Together, they rule the city and send off Orestes along with other noble sons to a camp far away.  When Agamemnon returns successful from the Trojan War, the two murder him and leave his body to be seen, demonstrating that they are now the rulers of Mycenae.

Years later, Orestes returns with another boy, Leander.  He learns what his mother has done and when she continues her bloody ways, he and his sister decide that she must be defeated.  

This is my first novel by Colm Toibin, although I'm reading Let The Great World Spin in the next few months.  He is a master storyteller, showing the loves, the deceit and the yearning for power that typified the ancient courts.  The gods were never far away and the capriciousness that they showed was mimicked by the rulers.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and mythology.