House of Names

“I’m used to the smell of death.” This is how Clytemnestra’s account begins—her life after her husband Agamemnon left to conquer Troy. The immortal ancient Greek myth about the Trojan hero Agamemnon, his unfaithful wife Clytemnestra, and their children whose fates were determined by the irreversible actions of their parents was recorded over two thousand years ago by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. And throughout all of human history since, people have been retelling and reimagining these fates and plots.

In the novel “The House of Names,” Colm Tóibín managed to both bring a completely new voice to the ancient tragedy about Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes, fill in the gaps in the classical biographies of these heroes, and add modern shades and depth to their insoluble moral dilemmas—while also writing an exciting and chilling detective story in ancient Greek settings. Tóibín leads us through the treacherous labyrinths of memory—sometimes lying, sometimes frighteningly honest—along paths of words that can be interpreted in five different ways, and the choice of interpretation will determine someone’s life every time. He also follows the tracks of decisions that always prove fateful. This is a story of how one betrayal leads to another, how one murder turns into a chain of killings, and how condemnation and justification go hand in hand.