Book Review – House of Names

by Colm Toibin (Viking) ISBN: 9780241264935

On her beloved daughter Iphigenia’s wedding day, Clytemnestra discovers that her husband, Agamemnon has made a deal with the gods. Their beautiful daughter is not to be married to Achilles. Instead Iphigenia is to be sacrificed to appease the gods and restore her father’s luck.

Unable to prevent this tragedy from unfolding, a broken Clytemnestra returns home to her palace. Here she lives under the ever watchful eye of her daughter Electra and the palace Elders. Soon with the assistance of her lover Aegisthus, who is a prisoner within the castle, she begins to form a plan of revenge against her husband. Unknowingly setting in motion a betrayal that will rip her family apart.

After five years away at war, Agamemnon returns home, and Clytemnestra’s devious plans are set in motion. A plan that sees her blindsided by an unseen enemy and her remaining children sent into exile.

House of Names sweeps you back in time to a world of wars, temples, palaces and gods. Descriptive and engrossing, it engages you from the very first page.

Merissa Himraj
4/5