It is the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, beginning with the brutal sacrifice of their 16-year-old daughter, Iphigenia.

This intricately plotted novel draws on a number of Greek myths, chief among them those found in Aeschylus’s Oresteia.

All the works I’ve chosen have interpreted the Greek myths in different ways, but they are all testament to how these ancient stories have got under our skin. In my debut novel Pandora I wanted to explore female agency and the complexities of human nature, all through the richness of a Georgian lens using the myth of Pandora’s box as an anchor. Saint does a great job of incorporating other figures and storylines from Greek myths into the novel which greatly excited the inner nerd in me.But retellings come in many forms and guises. Despite a little slowness in the middle of the book, the book overall was a quick read. Saint used the mythology as a guide, and filled in the atmosphere, dialogue, and personality to make the figures living, breathing creatures.īeyond part 1, the rest of Ariadne’s and Phaedra’s stories were new to me. I’ve had a deep love for minotaur stories since a Scooby Doo episode with a minotaur in a maze that I watched as a child, and Saint brought this monster alive to its full glory. It is a story I teach my class when we are discussing the ancient art of Crete, so I was stoked (like literally giddy) to hear this was going to be a novel featuring that event. I was familiar with the part 1 of the story of Ariadne with Theseus and his battle with the Minotaur going into this novel. I appreciated Saint giving the female perspective on this story of Ariadne and Phaedra and their opinions on the men in their lives. Reading mythology usually presents male characters as heroes regardless of their treatment of women or their abhorrent behavior (looking at you Odysseus and Achilles). Living two very different lives, the contrast between Ariadne and Phaedra created a nice tension. Saint makes these two women believable, and despite their flaws, likeable. They make a single mistake, and they are outcasted.

Historically, a lot of Greek female characters are made to be villains. Two princesses of Crete, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra, are the two voices of Ariadne. Fans of Circe and Song of Achilles rejoice! Apparently, this sudden influx of novels retelling Greek mythology is a thing, and I for one AM DOWN FOR IT!

Ariadne by jennifer saint summary