Hello, hello
Thank you for picking up this story and sorry in advance for rambling, I promise it won't be long.
As you might've guessed from the addition to the title, this story was written for the ONC 2023. I've tried competing in the past but this is my first time actually completing a story and I'm very happy, exhausted and also incredibly proud (for now, give me two weeks and I'll hate everything about this).
Anyway, I pretty quickly decided I wanted to do prompt #15: Three women. Three secrets. Three tangled lives. It really resonated with me in how general it was and how much freedom it gave to create a variety of interesting stories focusing on female characters. I immediately was transfixed by the idea of doing a Greek mythology retelling. I've wanted to write one for quite some time, seeing as there are so many that are floating around in the book world right now, especially those written from a female perspective.
So I set out to find my three mythological figures and it wasn't easy to pick out three women, that were linked together and could appear in a story together. The obvious choices of the Fates or the Furies didn't really tickle me that much, I wanted to focus on mortal women. Though the aforementioned ones are also relevant to this story.
I just want to quickly warn you though before reading: The Oresteia, which I chose to retell in this novella, is not what you'd consider light reading. These characters commit serious crimes against each other, they make decisions you might not agree with, they might be unlikeable. But they and their actions are purely fictional. The story touches on themes of feminism but it's not meant to be seen as an example. Men are not evil, okay? I do not condone violence or murder. I just occasionally write about them.
So, in case you somehow overlooked it before, this story is rated mature. It features graphic violence and if you know a thing or two about this particular myth, you'll know it can't be retold without it. So keep that in mind before reading. Apart from that, there are also a few sex scenes in here. And lastly, the story also touches on or mentions suicide, cannibalism, rape and incest. It wouldn't be Greek mythology without them.
Please read at your own discretion.
With that being said, I hope you will enjoy The House of Atreus.
© 2023 amaranthine_dreams. All rights reserved.
Cover design by AnnieRosebud
Cover image: The Mountain Mists (1912) by Herbert James Draper (1864-1920), made available by artvee.com