Hannah’s Pick of the Week: Babylonia by Costanza Casati

‘”You like her too much,” Zamena says. Nobles are not like us. Never forget it.”

“She is different.”

“Why? Because she was born common? She isn’t common now.”‘

Costanza Casati, Babylonia, pg. 173

I’m always one to make sweeping predictions for what the new year will bring, literary-wise. Last year, I predicted that 2024 would be the year of speculative fiction, and in doing so I think I realized how much I enjoy historical fiction itself (listen to this Cook Memorial Public Library podcast episode I did with Marianne if you don’t believe me). I’m also just a history nerd — my favorite fiction novels from 2024 included Clare Pollard’s The Modern Fairies (17^th-century France); Álvaro Enrigue‘s You Dreamed of Empires (16^th-century Mexico); and Carys Davies’ Clear (19^th-century Scotland). But Costanza Casati’s new epic, Babylonia, covers more than a mere Wikipedia page on history or mythology can give us: Casati brings us into the action, the intrigue, and the romance (or lack thereof) in an ancient Assyrian society where the most powerful shed the most blood and the weakest shed the most tears.

The first mention of Semiramis is not of the woman herself but of her mother, who drowns herself after falling for a devotee of Aphrodite. Raised by a self-righteous adopted father in a backwater town of the empire, Semiramis is only able to move up from her station when the provincial governor’s head is stuck on a pike and the new governor, Onnes, decides to take Semiramis as a bride. Is it because she gleams like Ishtar, the goddess of love and war? Is it because she is willing to lie to get to the top, to rip off the hands that feed? Little does she know, Semiramis about to be placed into a sumptuous world of palace politics, and straight into a love triangle (a proper one) with the newly anointed Assyrian king, Ninus. But she is more than capable to match might with might. Violence lurks around every corner, the threat of war is omnipresent, and Casati weaves an intricate tale for the ages in Babylonia, echoing her debut Clytemnestra.

With the cascade of Greek mythology novels in recent years, it’s refreshing to read about a time period and place not often explored in fiction. With a cast of well-rounded characters, from light-footed eunuchs to regal Queen Regnants to a foreign princess held hostage, Casati builds a world both alien and close to our own. It’s a slow build upwards, but Casati’s Assyria towers high on the world-building scale, and Babylonia is a perfect read for those who enjoyed Daughters of Bronze: A Novel of Troy by A.D. Rhine or Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch.