Daughters of Sparta: A tale of secrets, betrayal and revenge from mythology's most vilified women

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Perfect for readers of Circe and Ariadne, Daughters of Sparta is 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.

Lccn 2020047756 Ocr tesseract 5.2.0-1-gc42a Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9889 Ocr_module_version 0.0.18 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-1200527 Openlibrary_edition I definitely agree that Helen could very well have been someone who did not want to have children, and we have stories from antiquity about this as well (Artemis comes to mind immediately). But I feel like Heywood, because she was so focused on modern women’s empowerment, missed an opportunity to show us not only the limitations but also the challenges that created these restricted roles for women. For example, in the absence of science-based options (fertility clinics, surrogates) and assuming a practical need for male heirs, what options could a Helen have, who wants love and companionship but does not want to have children? Another disconnect between Heywood’s ancient Greece and the one that has come down to us through epic: Her Agamemnon obsesses about winning “glory,” which is accurate broadly speaking. But without the interplay between mortality and immortality that exists in epic, the concept of kleos—what Homeric heroes fight for—loses its meaning. What these heroes were trying to win was not some vague, undifferentiated “glory” but immortality through song (the aforementioned kleos). They want to be remembered and, through memory, to achieve a kind of immortality. Heywood chooses not to engage with the desire to be remembered as a genuine concern of humans. Her Agamemnon gloats that he was able to rally “all of Greece” by giving them “a cause”: “let them tell themselves they’re fighting for Greece, or liberty, or…whatever, and they’ll jump at the chance for some action.” Men just want to run around killing and dying in violent conflicts, apparently. For what reason?

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There is more going on in this (comparatively) brief quote than I can account for here, but a few noteworthy points as they relate to Daughters of Sparta are as follows. First, obviously, the translations themselves are quite different: Through both the translation and Heywood’s extraction of it from its context, much of the nuance has been stripped out of the source text that has come down to us from antiquity, as evident in “good ones” (meaning women) vs. women “whose acts are virtuous.” It may not seem important, but the latter differentiates between women sum total being bad and bad acts that some women may perform. One thing this may reflect is the recognition of coexisting dualities, especially in Homer but also evident across ancient Greek thought. A particular quality, cunning for example, could be deployed for good or bad ends. Cunning itself is not necessarily inherently either good or bad but can become so through its application. Alternately, rather than morally neutral qualities, the modern Western mind especially (though not exclusively) tends to bifurcate, creating discrete categories for good and bad and then assigning qualities accordingly (honesty and cunning respectively, for example). Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-12-12 15:09:59 Autocrop_version 0.0.14_books-20220331-0.2 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40793905 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier For millennia, men have told the legend of the woman whose face launched a thousand ships—but now it’s time to hear her side of the story . Daughters of Sparta is a tale of secrets, love, and tragedy from the women behind mythology’s most devastating war, the infamous Helen and her sister Klytemnestra. Required reading for fans of Circe . . . a remarkable, thrilling debut‘– Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue But when the weight of their husbands’ neglect, cruelty, and ambition becomes too heavy to bear, Helen and Klytemnestra must push against the constraints of their society to carve new lives for themselves, and in doing so, make waves that will ripple throughout the next three thousand years.

Ancient myths take on new life and humanity in Daughters of Sparta, Claire Heywood’s moving debut….Fans of Circe by Madeline Miller and the Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley will be enthralled.” —Shelf Awareness, STARRED review For millennia, two women have been blamed for the fall of a mighty civilisation - but now it's time to hear their side of the story . . . The writing style here was also entertaining. With a personal and up close perspective from Daphne, we go through the journey with her. We get her thoughts and emotions, and I love that as the story progresses, we get to dive into her what kind of person she is. I adored Daphne as a main character. She doesn’t want to be a pawn in the gods’ game, but for her family she would risk it. She also has confidence like a storm within her and I love that. Sometimes, I felt information is withheld from the reader for a little too long. By the end, I was getting annoyed by how many times people refused to tell Daphne who her true father is. Seventeen-year-old Daphne has spent her entire life honing her body and mind into that of a warrior, hoping to be accepted by the unyielding people of ancient Sparta. But an unexpected encounter with the goddess Artemis—who holds Daphne’s brother’s fate in her hands—upends the life she’s worked so hard to build. Nine mysterious items have been stolen from Mount Olympus and if Daphne cannot find them, the gods’ waning powers will fade away, the mortal world will descend into chaos, and her brother’s life will be forfeit.As princesses of Sparta, Helen and Klytemnestra have known nothing but luxury and plenty. With their high birth and unrivalled beauty, they are the envy of all of Greece. Content Warnings: Fantasy violence throughout (some graphic); torture with a branding iron; some kissing; at least 1 use of the s-word.* I thought it was especially fascinating to read the section that takes place in the Greek underworld. I haven’t seen much of that in YA literature before. I loved this book. Accessible to those who don’t know much about Homer or Troy or Greek Mythology and special treat for those of us who do.” —The Satellite Sisters As for the quote that set things off on the wrong foot for you, it made me wonder if it was chosen more as a creative/Muse-related moment, rather than with a lot of real reflection or thought for the context? I know that as a fiction writer, I’ve got snippets of quotations, poetry, etc, that give me pause and make me want to write stories, even if I’m not entirely aware of their full context. I would personally try to look up a quotation and understand it fully before putting it in a published book, but just trying to suggest why maybe that quote was chosen.