Years ago, I came across Michelle Moran's
Cleopatra's Daughter. (Probably not too long after it was published in 2009, which would be when I was seventeen.) I read it and I was fascinated with this young woman, Cleopatra Selene. I knew who she was because of another book that I had read when I was much younger, but that book had been about her mother, the infamous Cleopatra. I knew that Selene had been taken to Rome for Octavian (later Augustus)'s Triumph, and I knew that she had married a man named Juba, become Queen of Mauritania, and had three children. All in all, these were basic facts that you find in the back of a book in a kind of "what happened to them" section.
Either way, I was really excited when I found
Cleopatra's Daughter, because I loved ancient Egypt and I loved the changes that moved Rome from a Republic into an Empire, which is closely involved in the lives of Cleopatra and her daughter Selene (Please note that there is no reason to call Cleopatra Selene "Selene" other 1. to differentiate her from her mother, and 2. that is what her character in the book is called.). I read it, I loved it, I reread, I loaned it to friends..... You get the picture. My interest in this time period, and my interest in this book almost lead me to become a Classics (Ancient Greece and Rome) scholar, but I didn't. However, my interest in this period never waned.
So a few weeks ago, I discovered that I had lost my copy of
Cleopatra's Daughter. Gone. Not on the shelf with the rest of my fiction. Boy, was I bummed. So I went to my favorite online retailer, Amazon, did a search, and guess what popped up?
Cleopatra's Daughter was part of a series! Or rather, a collection, but still. So I bought all three books. Each one is amazing in it's own right. Let's start at the beginning, chronologically.
The first book is
Nefertiti, which is a name recognized internationally, even if not everyone knows exactly who she is. Her life is a bit of a mystery, pieced together mainly through excavations at Amarna, the city she built with her husband. At the ripe age of fifteen, Nefertiti is married to Prince Amunhotep, despite her father, the Vizier Ay, recognizing that Amunhotep is unstable. The book's narrator, Mutnodjmet, is Nefertiti's younger sister. Mutnodjmet knows, as does Nefertiti, that the new wife's job is to control her husband. And in many ways, she does, although it seems for the majority of the book that Nefertiti is just as crazy as Amunhotep. The prince becomes Pharaoh and coruler with his father. Amunhotep has an obsession with the god Aten. When his father dies, Amunhotep renames himself Akenaten, destroys Amun, the main god of Egyptian religion up until now, and becomes increasingly dedicated to creating something that outlasts him.
In the process of doing so, he basically alienates everyone and goes crazy. It's a descent that you see coming from a mile away, but much like a train wreck you can't really look away from. But you see Nefertiti, in her early twenties at this point, struggling to balance between controlling her husband, doing good for the people of Egypt, and building a legacy that will write her name on the walls of time. Eventually, Akenaten dies of plague. Good riddance to him! Nefertiti, who had been named Pharaoh just before plague broke out, renames herself Smenkhkare and rules with her eldest daughter, Meritaten. PLEASE NOTE: The Pharaoh Smenkhkare did exist. There is some theory that it was actually Nefertiti, but this is not confirmed, it is merely theory. And it fits nicely into the story! The book makes a few time jumps at the end, but you see Nefertiti managing to make some headway into doing some good--but then she dies.
In the last two paragraphs, I've laid out some of the bare bones of Nefertiti's story from the book, but as I said, it's told from the point of view of Mutnodjmet, who has an interesting story herself. She plays second fiddle to her sister for most of the book, although she is incredibly brilliant herself. She states many times that she does not want to be queen. Her aunt, the Dowager Queen Tiye responds to this comment at one point by telling Mutnodjmet that quality is exactly what would have made her a great queen. I really like having this point of view outside of Nefertiti. It keeps some of story a mystery, as Nefertiti's actions and motives are then revealed through other characters. It also lets us see how people reacted to the events of the story. And Mutnodjmet has a life and trials of her own. A lot of historical fiction, I feel, focuses too closely on, say, a queen, that you don't always get the reactions of a "normal" person. Ms. Moran does a wonderful job of having readers connect to both Mutnodjmet and Nefertit as characters with their own wants, desires, and flaws. Despite the fact that both characters are young at the beginning of the book--thirteen and fifteen, respectively--they are easy characters to relate to for someone of any age.
The series continues with
The Heretic Queen, a story about Mutnodjmet's daughter and Nefertiti's niece, Nefertari. When I first got this book, I was actually really upset. There had been a typo in the description of the book, making Nefertari into Nefertiti, and I thought I'd somehow managed to buy the same book under two titles. I was displeased. But this is a different book with a different character! In the case of this book, Nefertari is the main character and the narrator. Although she is not considered to be a heretic queen, she walks a very fine line because her aunt was the infamous Nefertiti. Nefertari is continually concerned with how her actions are depicted, because one wrong move would spell her death. She also wants to know more about her mother and her aunt, both of whom are dead, but the destruction of anything to do with Nefertiti and Akenaten has been erased from history. This did actually happen under the reign of the Pharaoh Horemheb, who seized the throne and Mutnodjmet for a wife once the rest of her family was dead. (When you see how Horemheb is treated in
Nefertiti, you won't exactly blame him for this....) He tried, and succeeded for the most part, to erase anything and everything from what we now call the Amarna period.
The Heretic Queen starts when Nefertari is just shy of her fourteenth birthday. She is being raised as a princess alongside Prince Ramesses, who is only a few years older than she is. She has love Ramesses for what seems like her whole life, but she is very conscious that she is not the best choice of wife for him. Ramesses marries Iset, who is being controlled by the High Priest of Amun, Rahoptem, and the High Priestess of Isis, Henuttawy. But Ramesses does not name Iset as Chief Wife and Queen. Woserit, Henuttawy's sister and Ramesses aunt, comes to Nefertari and offers to help her become Ramesses wife. Nefertari agrees, and their scheme is successful. However, Ramesses is convinced not to name Nefertari Queen due to her relationship to Nefertiti. Nefertiti must play her cards very carefully to make the people love her and not associate her with Nefertiti. One of the concerns that makes Nefertari seem so real to me is her desire to know her family. The only surviving member of her family was her mother, who died in childbirth. Her family was erased from history. She is concerned that she will be forgotten too, which in Egyptian culture meant she was doomed to wander the afterlife alone.
One of the really interesting aspects of this book is how it deals with the Hebrews (Habiru in the book). Nearly everyone you speak to will know the story of the Book of Exodus: The Hebrew were slaves in Egypt, Moses goes to Pharaoh and says, "Let my people go," some plagues, and the parting of the Red Sea. Outside of the Bible, there is no evidence for Moses, and this story of the Exodus is a bit far reached. Some of the historical events line up. In the book, Ms. Moran created Ahmoses, a Habiru scholar who comes to Nefertari many times asking for freedom of his people from the Army, which would allow the Habiru to travel from Egypt itself to Canaan (which was still Egyptian). Nefertari understands the plight of Ahmoses' people, but says she cannot free them. She even advises Ramesses not to free them. The Habiru make up 1/6th of the Egyptian army and a war with the Hittites is imminent. Ahmoses really appeals to Nefertari's own sense of being trapped, which makes it all the more poignant, but Nefertari cannot be seen to favor these people that Egyptians see as heretics. At the end of the book, after some other things happen that I don't want to spoil, Nefertari is able to use the situation to her advantage and the Habiru.
The third book in the series is the one that I mentioned first,
Cleopatra's Daughter. Cleopatra Selene
is probably the least well known of these women. Her mother, Cleopatra, is quite famous, but Cleopatra's children are almost forgotten by history. The eldest is Caesarion, her son with Julius Caesar. Her three younger children, Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene, and Ptolemy, were all fathered by Marc Antony. Selene is the youngest of the three heroines at the beginning of her book. She and her twin are only eleven years old, and Ptolemy is just six. The story opens on the day that Cleopatra's Navy refused to fight and her Empire fell to Rome. That is, of course, the same day that the Queen famously allowed asps to bite her and died before she could be taken to Rome and marched in the Triumph. After a few months to settle the affairs of Egypt, Octavian takes the three living children (Caesarion was killed) and leaves for Rome. Ptolemy tragically gets sick and dies on the journey.
Once in Rome, Selene and Alexander are raised in the household of Marc Antony's former wife and Octavian's sister, Octavia. They become friends with and are educated with Antony's heir apparent, Marcellus, and his group of friends, including Julia, Octavian's daughter, and Tiberius, the son of Octavian's wife from a previous marriage. Also playing a role is Juba, the prince of Mauretania who has been raised in Rome and serves as Octavian's spy, bodyguard, and adviser. As time passes, Selene goes from believing that she and Alexander will be killed to deciding to be as perfect as she can in the hopes that she will be sent back to Egypt to govern alongside her brother. The background of this period is the hunt for the Red Eagle, a rebel who is freeing slaves. When she gets a little older, Selene, who has always been a fabulous artists, begins to work with an architect that Octavia serves as patroness for.
Near the end of the book is the twin's sixteenth birthday. This is an important birthday for young Roman men as it means that they have come of age. This has far reaching ramifications and brings to the forefront once more that Alexander is a contender and a rallying point for rebellion in Rome. And so Octavian takes care of the matter, plunging Selene's life into chaos. However, she has one man on her side, and that's Juba, who has finally been granted leave to go back to Mauretania and rule. He takes Selene as his wife and Queen. Perhaps as an apology, Octavian gives her a large dowry.
So I've written a lot here, I know. These are three amazing books, and I hope you've stayed long enough to get to this point. What I really love about Ms. Moran's writing is that she makes her characters so relatable. They are from thousands of years ago, but it is easy to connect with each of these women, and the details of their day to day lives are beautifully added to create a whole world to lose yourself in. They also don't feel long either. So much seems to happen, but the final scenes are on you before you know what's going on. Anyway, I'll stop now. Go forth and read!!
Bluegrass State of Mind was Ms. Brooks' first book, and it's a doozy! Kenna Mason has fled New York City and is being chased my some unlikable characters. There's an entire conspiracy she's gearing to bring down. She comes to Keeneston for two reasons--First, she remembers that Will Ashton, who she met and hit it off with in her early teens, lives in Keeneston. Second, she's applied for the Assistant District Attorney job in town. Upon her arrival she meets the Roses, and her journey starts. At the horse sales at Keeneland, she reconnects with Will and sparks fly between the two of them. Between her own credentials and the recommendation of most of the town, she gets the ADA job. There was this one question about what you do if someone is caught riding a horse drunk... Read it. It's a funny moment. As her job continues and she gets more entrenched in town, Kenna worries more and more about Danielle and this conspiracy that she has uncovered. No one in town knows she's on the run. Well, almost no one in town. The mysterious sheikh Mohtadi Ali Rahman knows something, as does his head of security Ahmed. When bullets start flying, will Kenna know who to trust?
In book two, Risky Shot, Dani comes home to Keeneston. She has been hiding out in NYC gathering evidence to bring this ring down, and she finally has enough. When she gets to town, there is an instant connection between her and Mo. Sparks fly between them, almost literally! However, Mo's father sees her as nothing more than a grubby little gold digger. Little does he know that Dani is an incredibly wealthy heiress with a stubborn streak, and the daughter of his favorite Italian wine maker. Just as all seems to come to an end and it seems like the case is coming to a close, bullets rip the peace of the town to shreds.
Dead Heat is the conclusion to this trilogy of books. Paige has become close to Kenna and Dani (They're a bit like the Three Musketeers. At least, that's how I think of them.) With Dani struggling for her life and Kenna in recovery, and both under Jane Doe status (their names are not recorded for their own safety), the only person who can identify the shooter is Paige. This makes FBI agent Cole Parker stick to Paige like glue. Under the guise of being her boyfriend, he moves in. But neither Paige nor Cole really wants to admit at first that they like the other person. Between an assassin hunting them down and Cole buying Paige a vacuum--not a good idea, but he tried?--will this case finally get wrapped up?
