Excerpt from Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

As Clytemnestra watches, she feels like a weaver, spinning each thread, eager to see the final tapestry. She sees that her mother can be two different people and that the best version appears when her father isn't around.

Is this what happens when one falls in love and marries? Clytemnestra wonders. Is this what a woman gives up? All her life she has been taught courage, strength, resilience, but must those qualities be kept at bay with a husband? But it is also true that her father listens to her when she speaks, and Tantalus looks at her as if she were a goddess.

The thoughts burn and flicker, and she tries to drown them.

It doesn't matter what Leda or Tyndareus does. Her grandmother told her she will be queen, and so it will be.

She will bow to no one. Her destiny will be what she wants it to be.

* * *

Her brothers must leave. A heroic expedition, to the rich land of Colchis. A messenger arrives to give the news at dawn, sweat pouring through his tunic after the long trip. Clytemnestra watches him from the terrace as he dismounts from his horse and meets Castor and Polydeuces at the entrance to the palace. They haven't had any visitors since Tantalus's arrival, and she is surprised to see that the man lingers by the door to speak to her brothers rather than hurrying inside to meet the king.

Later, Castor brings her to the riverbank. He seems lost in thought, and his eyes are dark in the morning light.

"That envoy was for you and Polydeuces," Clytemnestra says.

He nods. "We are going to Colchis. We have been called to join a crew of young Greek men."

"Tantalus told me about Colchis," she says. "A wicked king rules there."

"Aeëtes, yes," Castor replies.

"He is skilled in potions. He uses herbs that grow in the woods to work changes upon the world."

"How do you know such things?"

"Tantalus says everyone knows about it in the East."

"What do these herbs do?"

"They heal animals and people alike, bring them back to life. But they also cause pain."

Castor doesn't reply. He is watching a group of boys racing each other in the distance.

"When will you leave?" Clytemnestra asks, dipping her feet into the water.

"Soon. In ten days."

"For how long?"

Castor sits next to her. "I don't know yet. It will be one of the greatest expeditions ever. They will talk about it for years to come."

"So you will stay away for a long time," Clytemnestra says.

Castor ignores her. "Jason from Thessaly leads us. The crew will be forty men, or more."

"Jason?" She remembers the women of the palace speaking about the boy, son of the rightful king of Iolcos. It was one of those stories that people loved to tell over and over again: a power-hungry ruler eager to eliminate all threats to the throne, and a mother desperate to save her child. When Jason was born, his uncle Pelias ordered him dead, so his mother and her attendants clustered around the baby and wailed as if he had been stillborn. Then, she slipped out of the palace in the night and hid her son in the woods, praying that someone would rescue him. No one has heard of him since.

"He is alive," Castor says, "and will take back his kingdom. But first, he needs to go to Colchis."

"What is he after?"

"A golden fleece." Clytemnestra raises her eyebrows, skeptical, and Castor explains. "King Aeëtes is rumored to keep the fleece of a ram with golden wool. Many have tried to steal it, but no one has ever succeeded. Jason's uncle wants him to find it and bring it to him. If we do that, he will give him the throne of Iolcos."

"Why do you follow him?" Clytemnestra asks. "It is not a fight that concerns you."

"Every man worth anything will be there. Anyone who wants to be remembered."

And what about me? Shall I be forgotten? But she remembers her grandmother's words. You girls will be remembered for longer than your brothers. She walks into the water, feeling mossy rock under her feet.

Excerpted from Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. Copyright © 2023 by Costanza Casati. Excerpted by permission of Sourcebooks. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.