These women could be any of us, living, breathing, loving and losing on the page, and the emotions they feel will be recognisable to us all. This is a reimagining of events which, after all have many different versions woven around them by different writers, in an attempt to bring events from centuries ago to life for modern audiences, and it is very effective in this regard. If you are familiar with the written history of the Trojan War, I am sure there are bits of the book you might take issue with. Interestingly, though, she has chosen not to focus on the main female figure in the tale – Helen, whose beauty brought down an entire nation – but three other women, seemingly on the periphery but actually central to the whole story, Clytemnestra, Cassandra and Elektra. In fact, I could almost life my review of Ariadne and paste it, word for word, into the review for Elektra, because Jennifer Saint has taken the same principle, taking well known Greek myths and telling them from the perspective of the women involved, and applied it to the story of the siege of Troy. Jennifer Saint’s last book, Ariadne, was one of my top books of 2021 (you can read my review here) so I really was looking forward to reading Elektra but wondering if she could pull off the same transformation of a seemingly well known story again. Huge thanks to Caitlin Raynor at Headline for sending me an advance copy of the book, which I have reviewed honestly and impartially. Today is publication day for Elektra by Jennifer Saint and so I am delighted to be sharing my review of the book with you all. But can she escape the curse, or is her own destiny also bound by violence? The youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, Elektra is horrified by the bloodletting of her kin.

She is powerless in her knowledge that the city will fall. Princess of Troy, and cursed by Apollo to see the future but never to be believed when she speaks of it. Her husband raises a great army against them and determines to win, whatever the cost. The sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon – her hopes of averting the curse are dashed when her sister is taken to Troy by the feckless Paris.

This is the story of three women, their fates inextricably tied to this curse, and the fickle nature of men and gods. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeance.

Jennifer saint elektra a novel