Clytemnestra: A Novel by Costanza Casati (Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.99, 9781728279374), first published in 2023, was recently released in paperback. It won Goodreads' Buzziest Debuts of 2023 and POPSUGAR's Best Historical Fiction of 2023. A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.
You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offense against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.
But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice. Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did. If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
If you loved Clytemnestra, you'll love Neferura: A Novel by Malayna Evans (Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.99, 9781728278728). Published February 13, 2024, this is the thrilling tale of the forgotten daughter of a legendary Egyptian pharaoh and the path she must take to escape her own dangerous fate.
Neferura, princess and high priestess of Kemet, knows her duty is to her people. When your mother is the great Pharaoh, it is hard to forget. But Neferura's unique position at court comes with high stakes for her country, especially when she's forced to serve her vile half-brother, a man determined to stop Neferura's potential rise.
Peace, it seems, never lasts for women who wield power in the open. Especially when they cross a vengeful man.
When Neferura overhears Thutmose's plot to end her mother's rule, she knows he must be stopped, no matter the cost. The discovery of a mysterious tattooed wisewoman and her shadowy network of spies offers an uneasy alliance. But the wisewoman wields more power than Neferura knew possible--power with the potential to rival her own. Neferura must decide where her loyalties lie and how much she's willing to sacrifice to protect the people she loves before everything crumbles at the hands of a tyrant.