Book Details
The Children of Jocasta
When you have grown up as I have, there is no security in not knowing things, in avoiding the ugliest truths because they can’t be faced . . .
Because that is what happened the last time, and that is why my siblings and I have grown up in a cursed house, children of cursed parents . . .
Jocasta is just fifteen when she is told that she must marry the King of Thebes, an old man she has never met. Her life has never been her own, and nor will it be, unless she outlives her strange, absent husband.
Ismene is the same age when she is attacked in the palace she calls home. Since the day of her parents’ tragic deaths a decade earlier, she has always longed to feel safe with the family she still has. But with a single act of violence, all that is about to change.
With the turn of these two events, a tragedy is set in motion. But not as we’ve known it.
Review of The Children of Jocasta
I wasn’t too familiar with the myth of Oedipus or the plays by Sophocles. I knew the basics (and after a quick Google search to confirm): he (Oedipus) unwittingly kills his father, marries his mother, and brings about the destruction of the city of Thebes.
So that’s kind of a lot.
And what Natalie Haynes does is takes this very male dominated cast of characters and sets them in the background, liberating the women in the story, who, in many Greek Myths, are left to wail silently in the footnotes or not bothered to be mentioned at all.
Haynes writing is vivid and lush, setting an intriguing balance between mother and child. Weaving an intricate story of love and loss, the bonds of family, and the domino effect caused by acts of betrayal that sets this story into motion, pulling readers in, holding us captive until the very end.
Happy Reading ~ Cece
RATING: 
– Satisfyingly Inked
About the Author
Natalie Haynes is the author of six books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the novels A Thousand Ships, which was a national bestseller and short-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and Stone Blind. She has written and recorded nine series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for the BBC. Haynes has written for the Times, the Independent, the Guardian, and the Observer. She lives in London.
publication details
| Pub Date | ISBN | Page Count | Publisher | Age Group | Source & Format | Review Posted Online |
| 22-Oct-24 | 978-0063414006 | 304 | Harper Perennial | Adult | NetGalley, Digital ARC | September 30, 2024 |
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Welcome Reader!
I’m Cecelia and I’m so glad you’re here! You’ll find honest reviews, book recommendations, along with other bookish essentials. So happy you stopped by!
– C
ABOUT THE CREATOR
CECE BECKMAN
Cece holds a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach. She lives in California with her husband and children. When she’s not reading or writing reviews she can be found wandering book aisles at local bookshops, drinking iced cold lattes with cold cream foam, or passing the time with her cats.
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