The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Casati, Costanza. Clytemnestra. Penguin Random House, 2023.

In Clytemnestra, Casati creates a feminist retelling of the famous Greek myths surrounding the Trojan War. Clytemnestra was known throughout history as the murderous wife of the famous Greek general Agamemnon who kills him shortly after his return from the war. In her novel, Casati creates a sympathetic portrayal of a complex woman who goes to drastic measures to avenge the deaths of her loved ones.

Casati begins the tale of Clytemnestra in her early teen years as a princess of Sparta. She trains in combat and is renowned for her abilities in the wrestling ring. She dreams of marrying a king one day, but worries about leaving her siblings behind with their cruel father and alcoholic mother. When a handsome king named Tantalus visits Sparta, he and Clytemnestra soon fall in love and are married. Soon after their wedding, Tantalus has to return to his kingdom for a few months and Clytemnestra decides to stay with her family until his return rather than going with her.

Soon after his departure, Clytemnestra discovers she is pregnant. She has to stop her training in the wrestling ring, but despite this loss of her athletic identity, she is ecstatic to become a mother. Soon after the baby is born, Tantalus returns to Sparta. Clytemnestra is deeply in love and happy, and says during this time "there is only them," meaning she only cares about her baby and her husband. Around this time, two royals from Mycenae have come to Sparta asking for help. Agamemnon and Menelaus have been ousted from their thrones in the home kingdom due to a coup, and they strike up a deal with the Spartan king, Clytemnestra’s father, to retake power in their home city.

Part of this plot is Agamemnon’s desire to take Clytemnestra as his wife, forcing her to marry him, and effectively becoming the prince of Sparta. One night, Agamemnon organizes and carries out the murder of Tantalus and the baby. Soon after the murders, he forces Clytemnestra to marry him and takes her back to Mycenae. The novel jumps forward 15 years after these events. At this time, Clytemnestra now has four children with Agamemnon. She says that despite the identity of their cruel father, Clytemnestra says that motherhood has “given her her life back.”

The Trojan War begins after Clytemnestra’s sister Helen elopes with the Trojan prince Paris, despite being married to Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus. Before leaving for the war, Agamemnon tells Clytemnestra and their daughter Iphigenia that he has arranged for Iphigenia to marry the hero Achilles. They travel to a nearby coastal city of Aulis where the Greek navy will leave for Troy in the following days. However, this marriage proposal is a sham. The truth is that a seer named Calchas has told Agamemnon that sacrificing his daughter to the gods would make their chances of winning the war more favorable. The night of the ‘wedding proposal,’ Agamemnon has soldiers tie up his wife and daughter, and sacrifices his daughter in a ritual ceremony.

Clytemnestra is heartbroken, and full of rage. She plots revenge while Agamemnon is away in Troy. In his absence, she allies herself with her husband’s cousin Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s sworn enemy who had staged the coup years before. Upon Agamemnon’s return, she and Aegisthus kill Agamemnon, and they take rule of Mycenae for themselves.