Vivid portrayal of the life of Cleo’s daughter
Reviewed by Gabrielle Pantera
“The strangest thing has definitely been the number of times I’ve been asked whether I think I am the reincarnation of Cleopatra’s daughter,” says Cleopatra’s Daughter author Michelle Moran. “The only other author friends I know who get this question are writers of historical fiction set in Egypt. I don’t know what it is about the place…okay, maybe I do. Many people feel strongly connected to it.”
Cleopatra’s Daughter traces the lives of Cleopatra Selena and Alexander Helios, twin children of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony, taken to Rome at the age of eleven by their father’s greatest rival, Octavian Caesar, after has vanquished Anthony in battle. Their parents committed suicide rather than be taken alive. After being paraded through Rome as part of Octavian‘s triumphant return they live at the home of Octavia, (sister to Octavian and Marc Antony’s former wife). Their daily lives are entwined with Octavian, his wife Livia, his daughter Julia, and the future emperor Tiberius. The children adapt to life in Rome and try to make themselves useful to Octavian so they won’t be killed. Will they make it to adulthood?
Moran got the idea for the book Cleopatra’s Daughter while scuba diving in Egypt. “We drove one morning to the Eastern Harbor in Alexandria,” says Moran. “I wondered if the real thing could possibly live up to all of the guides and brochures selling this underwater city, lost for thousands of years until now. Then we did the dive. It was every bit as magical as everyone had promised.”
“We saw the blocks that once formed Marc Antony’s summer palace, came face to face with Cleopatra’s enigmatic sphinx, and floated above ten thousand ancient artifacts, including obelisks, statues, and countless amphorae,” says Moran. “By the time we surfaced, I was Cleopatra-obsessed. I wanted to know what had happened to her city once she and Antony had committed suicide. Where did all the people go? Were they allowed to remain? Were they killed by the Romans? And what about her four children?”
“When I discovered what Cleopatra’s daughter lived through while in exile…rebellion, loss, triumph, love…I absolutely couldn’t wait to start writing,” says Moran.
Cleopatra’s Daughter captures what life could have been like for these two children of Egypt. Michelle Moran’s descriptions of Roman life are vivid. As you read you want to know what will happen next. These children are intelligent and don’t act like children. They’ve grown up with war and the knowledge that they will rule. When that’s taken away from them they must learn how to survive. Selena want to be sent home to rule her homeland and thinks it’s possible.
Very little of the book is set in Egypt. Once the Selena and Alexander are taken to Rome, that’s where the book is centered. There is a timeline and list of characters with photos of statues in the front of the book. There’s a glossary at the end. This book is for anyone who’s interested in Rome. At this time, no sequel is planned.
Rating: 4 stars
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran. Hardcover, 448 pages, Publisher: Crown, September 15, 2009, Language: English. ISBN: 9780307409126
