Cleopatra’s Daughter: A Novel

Michelle Moran
Crown Publishers (2010)
ISBN 9780307409133
Reviewed by Lynn O’Connell for Reader Views (06/10)


Kingdom conquered … mother and father committed suicide … carried off to a foreign land in chains.  What would you do at age ten?  Author Michelle Moran takes us through five years and more than 400 pages to detail the life, and the times, of Selene – the daughter of Cleopatra.  In 323 BC, the Ptolemaic dynasty began.  Finally, in 47 BC, Julius Caesar defeats the Ptolemy and Cleopatra becomes Queen of Egypt.  Meanwhile, Juba I, King of Numidia, is killed and Numidia becomes a Roman province.  His son, Juba II, is taken to Rome and raised by Caesar.  Two years later, Julius Caesar is assassinated, which leads to the 41 BC first meeting of Marc Antony and Cleopatra and ultimately the birth of the twins (Selene and Alexander) and Ptolemy. 

Our story in “Cleopatra’s Daughter” picks up in 31 BC, when Marc Antony and Cleopatra are defeated by Octavian.  Both ultimately commit suicide.  The twins, Selene and Alexander, are ten-years-old.  The three children are transported off to Rome – with younger brother Ptolemy dying in route.  The survivors, Selene and Alexander, are paraded through the streets in chains and then they go to live out their childhood with Octavian’s kind sister.  The next few hundred pages detail their lives and dreams – life in the court, the culture of Roman slaves, their friends and loves, and their ongoing hopes to return to rule Egypt one day. 

That hope doesn’t happen, but Selene does manage to develop, survive and create a wonderful future and legacy.  Meanwhile, readers learn in-depth information about Octavian, Rome’s first and most famous emperor.    

Author Michelle Moran does an extraordinary job at recreating what life was like 2000 years ago – and holding the reader’s interest while she does so.  One successful element she uses is the first-person narrative approach – Selene tells this story, opening the reader’s mind to the thoughts and dreams of Cleopatra’s daughter.  The book is filled with accurate and appealing material that makes the characters come alive – Octavia (Octavian’s sister who was abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra), Livia (Octavia’s wife), Marcellus (the charming nephew set to inherit all), Tiberius (Livia’s son), and Juba (the aide). 

“Cleopatra’s Daughter” is the book for all of us who have been enamored by the Cleopatra story and wondered what was next – as well as a book for true classical history buffs.  The book provides an incredibly detailed story of early Rome which incorporates archaeological accuracy as well as in-depth research. 

As a child and later as an adult reader, I had always found Cleopatra to be amazing.  Author Moran created a Selene with whom I fell in love – a smart and well-educated young woman.  I was also amazed by the similarities between ancient Rome and modern times – architectural innovation, jacuzzis, antique collectors, theatre lovers and even graffiti.  It was also interesting to see the same controversies and horrors with slavery in BC times as America encountered in the 1800s.  Finally, I appreciated the glossary in the book which identified and defined many of the words of that time period.

As a lover of historical fiction, I’m already looking for Moran’s other books, “Nefartiti” and “The Heretic Queen.”  I’m sure I will find them both as entrancing and factual as “Cleopatra’s Daughter.”

“Cleopatra’s Daughter” by Michelle Moran is a book that we readers of early Egyptian/Roman history have been waiting for!

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