Member Reviews of forthcoming books.

Rated of 5

Opening with the end of Kleopatra’s life and ending with Kleopatra’s daughter’s marriage, this book imagines what life would have been like for Kleopatra Selene, called Selene, in the years after her mother and father’s deaths.

Octavian takes Selene and her twin brother, Alexander, to his own court and they are treated as part of his extended family. They go to school, they make friends, they create lives for themselves.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction, you will find a lot to like about Cleopatra’s Daughter. Michelle Moran does a great job of making ancient Rome seem real and modern, while also maintaining its historical perspective.

There are similarities between ancient Rome and modern day United States that she points out in the Historical Note at the end, so you’ll definitely want to read that. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kleopatra and ancient Roman history, she also includes an Afterword that fills you in on what happened to the rest of the characters after the end of the book.

I don’t rate that many books a 5, but I’d give this one a 5. I am going to get the author’s other books next. I can’t wait to see how she handles the life of Nefertiti.

Rated of 5

And from that point on I am feasting on pages filled with the adventures of Alexander and Selene… historical fiction at a very fine level. I am in awe of the twins voices… as they speak I had to remind myself again and again of their age. The voices to me seamed older but I forget how much faster children grew up then. While they were 11, they spoke as though they were 15 or 16…

Vivid characters – I appreciated the list of who they were in the front of the book and I used that a lot as I became used to so any new names coming in at once, Octavian (Emperor and keeper of the children once he conquered their home), Octavia, his sister – a gentle soul who I grew to like. And so many more from the handsome Marcellus, to the puzzling Julia who drove me nuts, then I felt bad for her, then I was mad again… and oh – you have to love the characters that make you FEEL.

I adored this book. This is the first of Michelle’s work that I have read and I am ready for more. A fantastic read that I highly recommend to history lovers and historical fiction loves alike.