Tag: the children of jocasta

A photo of the spine of a proof copy of The Children of Jocasta. It is black, with the title in yellow and the author's name in red. The book lies on a black desk.

The Children of Jocasta, by Natalie Haynes

Elodie VidalLeave a comment

The book cover of The Children of Jocasta. The background is light grey, with the title in the middle in yellow letters. The name of the author is in red right above. A tree with yellow leaves and red fruit is planted at the bottom of the page and grows into laurels around the writing. At the top of each branch sits a bird: the one on the left looks down inquisitively, while the one on the right seems to be asleep. On the bottom left sits an oversized dagger, still dripping with blood, and on the bottom right a sacrificial ox stands in profile. A sun with a face oversees the scene at the top and center of the page, while a lit pyre sits under the writing.

This review contains spoilers.

The Children of Jocasta is a new version of both Oedipus the King and Antigone – chapters alternate between the two stories- told from the point of view of two usually overlooked characters, Jocasta and Ismene. Through their eyes, Natalie Haynes presents the usual protagonists in a different light, but also expands the timeframe of the two stories, starting them long before the cataclysmic events that set the tragedies in motion (the murder of Laius in the case of Oedipus the King, and the deaths of Polynices and Eteocles in the case of Antigone).  Because it is a novel, The Children of Jocasta can also go into much more narrative detail than the original plays: we accompany Jocasta as she first becomes queen, and share Ismene’s life as the youngest of a cursed royal family. Really, with its alternative points of view and filling in of narrative blanks, the book feels like (very good and well-researched) fanfiction.

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