House of Names

By: Colm Toibin

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon

* A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book of the Year
* Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, St. Louis Dispatch

From the thrilling imagination of bestselling, award-winning Colm Tóibín comes a retelling of the story of Clytemnestra and her children—“brilliant…gripping…high drama…made tangible and graphic in Tóibín’s lush prose” (Booklist, starred review).

“I have been acquainted with the smell of death.” So begins Clytemnestra’s tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband King Agamemnon left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.

Judged, despised, cursed by gods, Clytemnestra reveals the tragic saga that led to these bloody actions: how her husband deceived her eldest daughter Iphigeneia with a promise of marriage to Achilles, only to sacrifice her; how she seduced and collaborated with the prisoner Aegisthus; how Agamemnon came back with a lover himself; and how Clytemnestra finally achieved her vengeance for his stunning betrayal—his quest for victory, greater than his love for his child.

House of Names “is a disturbingly contemporary story of a powerful woman caught between the demands of her ambition and the constraints on her gender…Never before has Tóibín demonstrated such range,” (The Washington Post). He brings a modern sensibility and language to an ancient classic, and gives this extraordinary character new life, so that we not only believe Clytemnestra’s thirst for revenge, but applaud it. Told in four parts, this is a fiercely dramatic portrait of a murderess, who will herself be murdered by her own son, Orestes. It is Orestes’s story, too: his capture by the forces of his mother’s lover Aegisthus, his escape and his exile. And it is the story of the vengeful Electra, who watches over her mother and Aegisthus with cold anger and slow calculation, until, on the return of her brother, she has the fates of both of them in her hands.

A brilliant book!

Where does House of Names rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Listening to, as opposed to reading this book, adds much to it. It is in the voices of Clytemnestra, Orestes and Elektra, each read by a different reader. And it is fitting to have a Greek legend read to you as it honors the ancient tradition of how the stories were told.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoyed The Master and The Testament of Mary, you will love The House of Names. Colm Toibin outdoes himself in this work. He combines his exceptional ability to imagine the life of legendary figures and make them human by giving them a voice, as well as leaving much to the imagination in what is said and what is unsaid, as in the relationship between Orestes and Leander.

Marvelous story, marvelous cast

Juliet Stevenson could read the phone book and I would be enchanted but all three narrators breathed so much life into this ancient story.

Greek myth revisited

loved the book and the narration . sorry it ended abruptly. wanted more about Orestes.

Hauntingly tragic, unfortunate ending

This retelling broke me, it’s was so beautifully told and rewritten, I can’t imagine the characters any other way now. However, the ending was dreadfully disappointing, and rather boring.

Optime! What a great rendition of Fall of the House of Atreus and parts of the Oresteia!

Gripping, articulate, accurate to the Classic literary tradition. The speakers are fabulous. Character development is superb. This is a great listen!