It’s so atmospheric and the way that Aeschylus uses the motif of dark and light was something I wanted to emulate in this novel too. The prologue of the novel is the lighting of the beacons to signal the fall of Troy, which is how the first play in the trilogy, Agamemnon, begins – I still remember reading that scene in the classroom when I was seventeen and how it gave me chills.

This is a myth with a wealth of sources to draw from and I absolutely started with the Oresteia.

Did you use, say, the Oresteia as the jumping-off point for your characterizations, or did you pull from different inspirations depending on the character? How closely do you stick to your sources when writing a novel? Given that you studied classical literature in your university years, I’d assume you’re familiar with many different versions of the same myths as told in epic poetry and plays and depicted in ancient art and artifacts. When I did, and as I realised that the whole novel was really built around her and the decisions she makes, I made her the central focus. I think that made her the most intriguing to me and it was so important to me to try to figure her out. Throughout the writing process, it was Elektra who grew and developed the most – she was certainly the most challenging character to understand and it took much longer for me to find her voice. I also wanted to include the story of Troy, a subject of endless fascination and appeal for anyone with even a fleeting interest in classics, but I wanted to see it from inside the besieged city rather than from the perspective of the Greek camps which is how it’s so often presented. In today’s world, the idea of someone who can see impending disaster but isn’t believed when she tries to warn everyone about it felt so tragically relevant. Cassandra is also a mythological figure who drew so much of my curiosity and sympathy. I had always wanted to tell her side of that story. I started with Clytemnestra – what happens to her when her daughter Iphigenia is promised in marriage to Achilles is a moment in Greek mythology that always resonated very powerfully with me from the first time I read it as a child. I always intended to have all three women as narrators but their roles definitely evolved a lot over the course of writing it.

Was that part of your plan for this book from the beginning, or did it evolve? Elektra’s name is on the cover, but Clytemnestra and Cassandra also get to say their piece. One of the things I loved most about both your previous book, Ariadne, and this one is that the title character isn’t the only one whose perspective we see.

Jennifer saint elektra review