Elektra Jennifer Saint

Wildfire, £14.99

Novelists such as

Madeline Miller and Pat Barker have given voices to the women of antiquity buffeted by the ambitions of gods and men. Jennifer Saint is a worthy addition to their company.

After her sparkling debut Ariadne, she has turned to the original dysfunctional family, the House of Atreus, torn apart by violence and vengeance.

Three women narrate the story, set during the Trojan War. Clytemnestra watches aghast as her husband Agamemnon slashes the throat of their daughter Iphigenia – sacrificed so that Artemis will give the Greek fleet a fair wind to Troy, where they go to reclaim Clytemnestra’s twin sister Helen.

In Troy, Cassandra, priestess of Apollo, is cursed with the gift of prophecy but doomed never to be believed. She predicts the catastrophe that Helen’s abduction by Trojan prince Paris will bring to the city. She also warns, after 10 long years of war, that the Trojans should burn the wooden horse left by the apparently departed Greeks.

Enslaved by Agamemnon, Cassandra sails with him back to Mycenae, able to foresee the dreadful fate awaiting him as Clytemnestra plots to avenge Iphigenia’s death.

Consumed by hatred for Agamemnon, Clytemnestra has little interest in her younger children Elektra and Orestes, which stokes their anger and resentment. Elektra was only a small child when her father sailed for Troy but remembers him as a strong, kindly presence and longs for his return.

When she sees the beacons presaging Agamemnon’s return, Elektra determines to thwart her mother’s murderous plot.

The relationship between the grieving mother and the slighted daughter is beautifully imagined. Saint has reworked familiar old legends and given them a fresh, modern vitality.