Clytemnestra

by Costanza Casati

As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her better. Let her be hated forever.

All the things I have done, I did to protect the ones I loved.

I have loved you since the moment you were born. I have fed you at my breast, cried for you, laughed with you, understood you when no one else would.”

“But if you loved him so much, then kill me. It won’t bring him back.”

But maybe this is how broken people keep living. They find someone as broken, fit him into the empty spaces of their hearts, and together grow something different.

of Clytemnestra, cruel queen and unfaithful wife. But it doesn’t matter. She was there. She knows songs never tell the truth.

Having a woman at the center of the narrative and at the center of the action—a woman who has been hated and vilified for centuries—is incredibly important because it proves that women’s stories can be as epic as the ones of the men.

But I believe that exploring these topics in a book set in the past raises important questions: on our perception of women’s pain, our distrust in women’s ambition and power, our judgment on women’s sexuality.