Thoughts are dangerous if you're a woman. That's a lot of that theme in this book, which is unsurprising given the setting. I found myself identifying with both heroines throughout their struggles. Obviously, there were choices they made that I wouldn't have made...or is that true? The fact that I'm asking that question makes the story succeed.

It's not overly-prose-y, but it is beautifully written. It's easy to follow and understand, more so if you're familiar with the myths. It's not a specifically happy book, but it's not a true tragedy, either. I would categorize it as hopeful, I think. When you read a story like this, it's meant to sit with you and I think this one does.

The characters were vibrant and passionate. They mention the Gods and sacrifices and prayers, but we never interact with these bigger-than-life deities. They are prevalent in the story, though. It's really a tale about searching for personal happiness when your decisions may not be entirely your own.

I'd honestly read a follow-up by this author. She put time and effort and thought into what these figures could have been thinking and feeling and if that was the goal: success!

After finishing A Thousand Ships back in March, I’ve found my interest in the myths and legends of Ancient Greece has remained steady – as has my wavering on whether I want to take a stab at reading The Iliad or The Odyssey. When I saw that Claire Heywood had a new novel, Daughters of Sparta releasing soon, I jumped at the chance to preview another book looking at the Trojan War from a female perspective. Focused on Klytemnestra and Helen, Daughters of Sparta examines the expectations placed on women, how that impacted their sense of self, and how often women are blamed (and punished) for the actions of men.

Klytemnestra always knew, accepted, and welcomed her role as oldest daughter. She looked forward to the day that she would marry and become a wife, mother, and eventually Queen of Sparta. In the meantime, she helped look after her younger sister, Helen. While breathtakingly beautiful even as a child, Helen never quite mastered tasks like spinning and weaving and the prospect of marriage and motherhood was always daunting and elusive. When the time comes for Klytemnestra to wed, there’s a change in plans and instead of remaining in Sparta, she must leave for Mycenae where she will be Agamemnon’s queen while Helen stays behind as Sparta’s future queen. Though the sisters end up married to brothers, they never see one another in person again but their lives remain inextricably entwined as Helen’s struggles with her role as wife, mother and Queen of Sparta trigger repercussions that devastate Klytemnestra and challenge her own understanding of everything she thought her life and marriage would be.

So much of Daughters of Sparta is demonstrated rather than told, and it’s demonstrated through contrasts. At the heart are, of course, the two sisters and the different ways that they interact with a similar set of expectations – marry, bear and raise children, publicly display what it means to be a woman and queen. Klytemnestra embraces every aspect of those expectations and seems to take to them naturally even in the face of her nerves as she leaves home for a strange palace and kingdom that are unknown to her. Even remaining in Sparta with an established support system, Helen struggles with those same expectations. She doesn’t rebel against them or take issue with them, she just finds them difficult and frequently gives up. Helen knows she is unhappy but doesn’t have any idea what might make her happier so she just drifts until someone else makes suggestions. Klytemnestra buys into the narrative of feminine expectations and deference so deeply that she ends up as a bystander to her husband’s selfish and destructive tendencies – only to blame herself for her inaction and inadequacy after the fact.

In another set of contrasts are the sisters’ husbands, Agamemnon and Menelaos. Just as the sisters find themselves having different relationships to feminine expectations, the brothers take demonstrate somewhat different approaches to their roles as kings and men. While Agamemnon is never satisfied with what he has, constantly striving for more whether it be women, wealth, or glory, Menelaos fumbles in similar ways to Helen – especially with Helen. Both brothers hurt those around them but while Agamemnon’s destruction is frequently tied to his selfishness, Menelaos’ is often related to his ignorance and reluctance to communicate (which is, again, matched by Helen’s own similar tendencies).

It’s through contrasting the siblings with each other as well as the couples with their spouses that Heywood’s skill in the construction of this story shine through. Taking familiar characters from ancient legend and writing them in a way that feels not only fresh but relevant and modern was a difficult task to set for herself but Heywood executed it beautifully. Though the husbands play significant roles in the story, the novel is undoubtedly a story about women’s experiences. Both sisters receive blame and feel guilt over the actions of men which they had no control over. In fact, one of the most poignant scenes is when a man admits to Helen that she was just an excuse for something larger, driving home the truth that there are so many times in life women are blamed because men cannot or will not take responsibility for their own actions and desires.

**I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

As someone who thoroughly loves Greek mythology, I went into this book knowing quite a bit about both Helen and Klytemnestra. However, reading through their perspectives was intriguing. Being a women in Ancient Greece is not something that I wish for, but I did like to read it.

However there are a few things that kept me from completely enjoying the book. I felt more that I was reading a historical recount without the feel of the characters. It was an easy book to read and I felt that the writing was great, but the sisters felt so similar even though they went through different processes of being wives, mothers, and women in their own right. However, I did enjoy reading more about how they were raised, their relationships with their family members, and their children later on.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy Greek mythology, historical recounts, and personalization of past stories.

I've always been fascinated by Greek mythology and also by women's history. This book was a natural for me. This is pure historical fiction- gods and magic are not active in this book.

The book opens with Klytemnestra and Helen as children growing up in the Spartan palace. Quite a few historical fiction books seem to need to set the stage by having the reader first encounter the main characters as children and then have the reader watch them grow up. I don't especially enjoy this technique, and in this case I thought the author had some trouble maturing her characters. Helen, especially, seemed childish and naive for most of the book. Part of what the author was trying to show, I think, is how noble women were kept out of the public eye and were sheltered. However, as princesses, I would think that both girls would have some training in politics- knowing who the major players were in their neighboring lands, what is expected of a queen (for both girls go on to become queens), diplomacy, and how to handle the men that would become their husbands. Neither Klytemnestra nor Helen seem to have any ideas about any of this. When Helen's father allows her to choose her husband, Helen makes her pick because Menelaus is Agamemnon's brother and she hopes to be able to see her sister after they are married (Klytemnestra has married Agamemnon at her father's behest). No other reason. No one even tries to tell her that it's unlikely that her plan will work, because married women rarely travel- this comes as a surprise to Helen. Would she really not know this?

Neither girl has any friends or anyone to talk to when their husbands act in ways bewildering to these too-naive young women. Is Agamemnon having affairs? Klytemnestra isn't even sure most of the time. Helen has no idea how to have any relationship at all with Menelaus, who, to be fair, is equally stymied by the prospect of actually talking to his wife. Neither girl is at all prepared for sex with her husband. It felt more like the 1950's,when no one was allowed to talk about sex, than an era thousands of years ago when surely sex would have been seen differently (pre-Christian values and all that?).

Helen of Troy (and Sparta) is one of the most famous women in history. This author chooses to portray her as a silly young girl who thinks that because she's pretty, she deserves everything. She falls for a smoothtalking stranger because her own husband doesn't show her the appreciation she wants, and her relationship with Menelaus is dead on the vine. Helen's end of the book felt quite unlikely to me.

Klytemnestra is a "good girl" who tries to do all the right things, but is betrayed by her husband in a truly heinous way. In the end, she does rally to her revenge, but the mythic Klytemnestra, magnificent in her rage, and this book's Klytemnestra doggedly performing her queenly duties alone and hardly seeming to believe in her own plan for vengeance, seem far apart.

I guess I wanted more from both of these characters. Klytemnestra needed more fire, I thought, and Helen needed to be a bit more grown-up- she gave no thought whatsoever to what it meant to be leaving with Paris.

I did like the world itself- ancient Greece society was interesting and the background to Agamemnon and Menelaus's wives was more than I'd known. If this had been two ancient Greek women who didn't happen to be legendary, I might have liked the book more. In humanizing these women, the author diminished them even as she strove to understand what drove them.

Thank you, NetGalley, Claire Heywood, and Dutton Books for the opportunity to read this book. This book will be published on June 22nd, 2021!

The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid gave us these legendary stories about legendary men killing each other for glory and battling the gods. We see glimpses of the women behind these men. Now we are gifted with retellings that strive to give these women a voice. The Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood gives the perspective of Klytemnestra and Helen. They are the daughters of Tyndareus and Leda of Sparta. At a young age, they are married off and separated. Helen is married to Menelaos. Klytemnestra is married to Agamemnon. They have to navigate the waters of being a wife to a King in a turbulent time. In this case, the women sacrifice their happiness for the success of their husbands, and stepping out of line can result in disastrous circumstances.

Trigger Warnings: Miscarriage, Child Loss, Murder, Rape

One thing that I absolutely loved about this book is how it navigates childhood, sisterhood, marriage, and motherhood in Ancient times. Helen clearly has some elements of postpartum depression with the birth of Hermione. But also, the author does go into the fact that these women weren’t “women” when they are married and get pregnant. They are still girls. Barely teenagers and they are forced into a world where they have to submit to the will of men. Menelaos is not a cruel man…not like Agamemnon. But they are still forced into situations that they would not choose for themselves.

One thing that I didn’t like, is their personalities. Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships! She is left by her husband for the handsome, yet cowardly, Paris. And she falls a little flat. Paris is a giant tool—but we ALL know this, even in The Iliad, we know this. Give Helen something. We don’t get her side of the story, so make her LEGENDARY. It’s the same thing with Klytemnestra. She knows that her daughter is about to be sacrificed by her husband and she just lets it happen. I know, she doesn’t have a lot of choice in the matter, but let’s have her do something rather than just stand by as her child’s throat gets slit to appease the gods.

But overall, I was completely immersed. The author writes with wonderful ease and I did feel like the description is on point. I could visualize the palaces and the danger that lurks there. I do hope Claire Heywood writes some more mythology or fairytale retellings! She does have a knack for creating the appropriate aesthetic in the stories. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars!

This gorgeous book. Thank you so much Netgalley, for this wonderful retelling of the Iliad told from the sisters' point of view (Clytemnestra and Helen). Similar to Silence of the Girls, this is a feminist retelling of that fabulous story of the Iliad, and how events shaped and effected them, not the main "heroes" of the Iliad. Its always nice to get another point of view, and this author did a wonderful job!

DAUGHTERS OF SPARTA by Claire Heywood tells the stories of two sister princesses who shaped the flow of history in Ancient Greece: Helen (originally of Sparta, most commonly known as Helen of Troy) and Klytemnestra, murderous wife of Agamemnon. The potential for a gripping, memorable story was immense. Like many, my understanding and knowledge of the Ancient world was based on the myths and stories written by men about men, so I was eager to read about the time and place from a different perspective. This story attempts to provide insight into what it was to be a wealthy, connected woman with tight constraints and impossible standards for appropriate behavior and what happens when the ignored, unseen, and unimportant ones are held accountable for any perceived wrong. While there are shining moments of feeling and shocking turns of events, they are few and far between. Emotion, passion, and personality are expressed in wooden words rather than shown and few if any characters truly develop as individuals that we care about and are interested in knowing more about. At times it felt as if characters were thrust randomly into the story to conform to the stories told by Homer. I wanted to like this book, having torn through books such as CIRCE by Madeline Miller, but it reads more like a history paper than it does a novel. I received an advance reader copy of this novel for my unbiased review.

What a lovely and perfect retelling definitely one worth buying and adding to any good collection of retellings

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of Daughters of Sparta in exchange for an honest review.

Daughters of Sparta left me wishing for more, but not in a good way. In the novel, author Claire Heywood imagines how Helen, the queen of Sparta who began the Trojan war, and her sister Klytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, would have lived prior to and during the war. The story begins with their childhood, then diverges as each sister is led further and further apart in the ancient world.


For those who are unfamiliar with classical texts like The Iliad, Heywood begins the novel with an opening epigraph to contextualize the events of Daughters of Sparta. I really love this addition because it makes the novel more accessible without having to read through any poetry or tragedies.


Though I have read some classical texts, I think Daughters of Sparta stands on its own as a historical fiction novel rather than a retelling. Unfortunately, I do think this is the book’s detriment, as Heywood’s assertion that Daughters of Sparta aims to fill in the blanks of Helen and Klytemnestra’s stories is undermined by the book’s structure and characterization of well-known characters.


The story spans decades, relying heavily on time jumps. While this can be done well, Heywood prioritizes telling the reader what happened during these time jumps within the text rather than writing scenes that further develop the protagonists. For me, this caused more questions about the characters, and was only worsened by the fact neither character seemed to grow through each new experience.


Despite falling flat and lacking character growth, Helen and Klytemnesta do portray what life could have been like for Greek women. Heywood’s depiction of the sisters’ marriages offered insight into the lives of wealthy Greek women of the period. For example, Heywood imagines Helen struggling in her role as queen of Sparta and mother to her newborn daughter. Considering women were expected to become mothers, Helen’s conflict within the very role she has been destined to fill since birth questions the role of the idealized wife and mother of the period.


Thematically, I had an issue with the way most characters were put into the category of good or bad without any ambiguity. One of my favourite things about the original texts is the way they can’t necessarily be analyzed from a modern perspective with the concept of good or evil. So to paint some characters as people who can do no wrong while others do bad things for no reason seemed to me as a disservice not only to the Greek texts, but also humans in general. One (non-spoiler) example of this is Klytemnestra’s relationship with her daughter Elektra. In the tragedy Elektra, Klytemnestra and her daughter have a tumultuous relationship to say the least, each spewing hatred towards the other throughout the play. Yet in the third person Daughters of Sparta, Klytemnestra seems like the perfect mother with a moody teenage daughter, lacking any of the tension that comes from imperfect characters.


Rating 2.5/5: Though Daughters of Sparta answers some of the questions the original tragedies and epics fail to address, the novel raises more questions with its bland take on the classical world. Overall, Daughters of Sparta lacks the strength and power of its source material. I won’t go so far as to say it’s bad or completely unenjoyable as there are some interesting takes about women’s lives in the period, but Daughters of Sparta is dull in comparison to The Iliad, The Oresteia and The Eumenides.


Given that this is a book about classical period wars, a trigger warning must be given for sexual assault, war brutality, and slavery.

I LOVED every single page of this book. It's perfect to read after Circe, The Love Song of Achilles, and with A Thousand Ships. As a young student I studied Greek mythology and Latin, and never has it been more meaningful than in the deft hands of Heywood, who has made Helen of Troy and her sister unlikely heroines of the story where previously they were sidelined.

3.5. I love Greek mythology and disliked the movie Troy as much as the next person, so I was excited to read this from the POV of Helen and Klytemnestra who, as Heywood notes in her introduction, have bad reputations and are poorly fleshed out.

The writing is fine--though not to the caliber of Madeline Miller, as the marketing suggests--but the characterization was not as rich as I anticipated. Heywood makes Helen slightly more sympathetic in her relationship to motherhood, but she's a bit one-note in that regard. Honestly, I would have enjoyed reading more about Klytemnestra; her tumultuous relationship with her husband and family was much more appealing to me.

A fascinating imagining of what the lives of the mythic Greek figures Klytemnestra and Helen of Troy might have been. Introducing the women as young girls, taking them through marriages, childbirth, affairs, and their subservience to men in their lives. And of course, their roles in the Trojan wars. Simple, straightforward storytelling immerses you in the tale and the times.

Another reviewer mentions that the author has chosen to have major events turn on very human decisions and weaknesses, rather than blaming/crediting the gods. A welcome an interesting departure from the original tales. I can’t say I particularly enjoyed ancient Greek lit as a very young student many decades ago, too many gods, too much war, too many heroic/swaggering men. But I very much enjoyed this title and it has inspired a bit of digging back into what I’ve forgotten from my school days. Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for a review copy.

This review contains spoilers. The ARC was granted with NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


If you are looking for a version of the Trojan War from the Iliad and the Greek dramas that is in any way romanticized, this is not the version of the story for you. Told from the points of view of Klytemnestra and Helen, sisters who were integral to the Trojan War both at Troy and home in Greece, the author portrays a time in which people believe the gods are real, but the author makes it very clear that it's really the humans in the story driving the narrative. I don't think I've ever read a version that so successfully eliminated every divine act so successfully and attributed the character and plot development to patriarchal oppression, violence, greed, and ambition. . What that takes out of the story turns out to be quite significant. Helen is not really the daughter of Zeus, come to Queen Leda in the form of a swan. She's actually the result of an implied gang rape that her parents try to cover by letting the Zeus rumor spread. As a result, Helen's mother hates the sight of her, and Helen's life choices end up cycling through trying to be loved by those who don't love her and withholding her love from those who could love her. . Paris was not given the most beautiful woman in the world because of his role in a dispute among goddesses. He's a selfish pretty boy who saw Helen as a prize rather than a person. In Margaret George's version of these events, the tragedy lies in knowing that Helen and Paris' once-in-a-lifetime ' love will eventually destroy Troy, and that Helen will regret his loss for the rest of her life. This is a traditional view, but Clare Heywood sees the real tragedy in the fact that to Helen in particular, none of this was really worth it. She eventually realizes Paris' shallowness and that the grand love was never real. She bears the brunt of the shame and blame, a position that she grows to find almost comfortable. Misery is almost safer than having her hopes up because any grasping of happiness has ended disastrously due to her own self-destructive behavior and the vices of others. Klytemnestra's contribution to the narrative is to show that being the obedient good girl to your husband doesn't make life much easier. Most versions have Agamemnon forced to sacrifice Klytemnestra's first born Iphigenia on order from the gods to receive favorable winds to Troy. However, Heywood proposes the idea that the seer who told Agamemnon "the will of the gods" was actually seeking vengeance for a wrong Agamemnon had committed against his family years earlier. Klytemnestra knows the gods have no blame in this except perhaps in not intervening. She knows her daughter's murder is the result of vengeance and Agamemnon's ambition. Her failure to forgive her husband for the loss of her child and her defiance of the "will of the gods" become much more understandable. Her reputation as the false wife and villainess crumbles.

What we are left with is one of the more historical fictionalized accounts of the Trojan War., but it' s just as tragic, because everything that unfolds is due to character flaws in those who had potential to be, even if not great, very good.

A brilliant & emotional retelling of two ancient daughters of Sparta, Helen & Klytemnestra, through the modern eyes of Classicist- turned-novelist Claire Heywood. I'll admit that I was predisposed to love this book, as a students of Classics in college and someone who also wrote a novel about Helen of Troy after a lifelong fascination with her. (Helen of Pasadena, a contemporary social satire) But Heywood's lovely and nuanced portrait of Helen, the great beauty of Greece and the face that launched a thoudanss ships, and her older and doomed sister Klytemnestra surpassed my expectations with evocative language, accurate history and an authentic emotional arc for both sisters. Fans of Madeline Miller's book will find a lot to like here. 4.5 stars

A beautifully rendered story about the siege of Troy from the point of view of Helen (yes, that Helen) of Troy and her sister, Clytemnestra. Both women given in marriage to powerful kings, Menalaus and Agememnon, respectively.

*Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc of this title. *

Very well written and a perfect recommendation for customers and readers looking for something outside of the current trend of WWII books. There is enough forward momentum on the plot to keep readers engaged and I enjoyed the lyrical tone.

i am a huge fan of mythological retellings, and this was perfectly serviceable! it was a fast and easy read. it was mostly enjoyable, but it was nothing spectacular. i don't dislike that i read it, but it was a bit bland. there wasn't a lot of character development and it almost seemed to have a really uneven relationship with its source material. it was fun, but not revolutionary. that said, i know a whole slew of people i can recommend this to and i'm sure it will be enjoyed.

History could not find two more diverse characters then Klytemnestra and Helen of Sparta, later known as Helen of Troy. Princesses of Sparta, Klytemnestra is to be the Queen of Sparta when she marries and her father dies, but unfortunately, her father decides to marry her to Agamemnon of Mycenae, leaving Helen to become Queen of Sparta. Helen marries Agamemnon's brother Menelaos but she is not satisfied with his distant form of marriage. When a visitor from Troy steals Helen's heart, she follows him back to Troy leading to the Trojan War. A gripping tale of the lives of women in the royal court and their roles as submissive wives and brood mares, enduring the transgressions of their husbands in silence.

I adore Greek mythology retellings. This book did not disappoint. The writing style was very fluid and made for a quick and empowering read.

This book is extremely well written, I didn't appreciate the changes to the storyline for some of the characters like Cassandra being a priestess, Agammenon being the second husband of his queen etc etc. I know there are plenty of tales of Troy but it was just a little too off for me.