The Death and Life of Iphigenia
Songs and Lies, Book One
She was never meant to choose. Only to be chosen.
As the Greek fleet gathers for war, Iphigenia, daughter of King Agamemnon, is summoned to Aulis under a false promise. What awaits her is not a marriage, but an altar.
But death is not the end of her story.
First Place, CIBA Chaucer Award
Novel London Shortlisted Novel
Indie Author Project Select
Her Father Sacrificed Her for a War.
Iphigenia arrives at Aulis believing she has been summoned to marry the warrior Achilles. Instead, she discovers that her father, Agamemnon, has promised her life to the goddess Artemis in exchange for favorable winds to carry the Greek fleet to Troy.
But death is not what awaits her.
Carried far from Greece to the strange land of Tauris, Iphigenia must build a life among people she does not understand while carrying the weight of everything—and everyone—she has lost.
As the years pass and the war at Troy reshapes the world she left behind, Iphigenia must decide who she is when she is no longer a daughter, a princess, or a sacrifice.
A reimagining of the ancient myth from Iphigenia's point of view, The Death and Life of Iphigenia is a story of survival, identity, belonging, and the difficult work of choosing a life after the one you expected has been taken from you.
Reader Review
The Death and Life of Iphigenia
What a beautiful book on a character who really deserved her story to be told.
Editorial Review
The Death and Life of Iphigenia
A meticulously researched narrative, brimming with entrancing details and emotional depth.
- From the Historical Novel Society
Reader Review
The Death and Life of Iphigenia
I found myself incredibly attached to the characters, and I love how deeply flawed Iphigenia is portrayed.
For Readers Who Love...
Greek mythology told through the women who lived it.
Complex characters vs. simple heroes and villains.
Ancient worlds grounded in history, culture, and everyday life.
Stories about family, identity, survival, and belonging.
Slow-building relationships and deeply human consequences.
Mythological retellings that ask what might have happened in the spaces the ancient stories leave behind.
About the Songs and Lies Series
The Death and Life of Iphigenia is the first novel in Songs and Lies, a series that retells the story of the House of Atreus through the people trapped inside it.
Each story explores the myths from a different point of view.
Prequel: Aerope—A Songs and Lies Short Story
Book One: The Death and Life of Iphigenia
Book Two: Coming Next