Cleopatra

Saara El-Arifi's Cleopatra is the third historical fiction account of Cleopatra's life that I have read in the past month. Many of the characters were already familiar to me when I opened the pages of this book. While the storylines are similar, all three books are different. In this particular novel Cleopatra is the narrator. Her political skills are focused upon instead of her seductive behaviors. The novel was published in February 2026. 

The publisher's summary:

YOU KNOW MY NAME, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME.

Your historians call me seductress, but I was ever in love's thrall.

Your playwrights speak of witchcraft, but my talents came from the gods themselves.

Your poets sing of my bloodlust, but I was always protecting my children.

How wilfully they refuse to concede that a woman could be powerful, strategic, and divinely blessed to rule.

Death will silence me no longer.

This is not the story of how I died. But how I lived.

The story is a memoir, but told by Cleopatra while she is in the afterlife. She has been dead for over two thousand years and is aware of the lies told about her over the millennia. I thought this was an intriguing perspective for the author to write from. Much of Cleopatra's narration refutes what historians have said about her, that she was a nymphomaniac. Of course, the male historians would say that. Cleopatra instead tells us how she chose her strategies for success. While she slept with Caesar and Marcus Antonius, we see how she used them for political gain. Truth be told, she did nothing that wasn't for her gain. 

The opening scene of the book was on the day that Cleopatra became queen. She was still a teen but immediately knew how to behave as a queen as well as how to remain as queen and pharoah. Her father taught her well but it seemed that she was born for her future role. Perhaps that's more guessing on what she was like but for a woman to succeed at being pharaoh Cleopatra must have had the goods to hold onto power as long as she had. That's impressive. 

The novel included Cleopatra's relationships with her siblings. In this retelling of her life we read that she loved her brothers and sister and thought they loved her in return. She was generous to them. When each of them tried to take the throne away from her she was stunned. Eventually she had them killed. The only problem she had was her sister Arsenoe. Arsenoe made several attempts to dethrone Cleopatra. After each loss Arsenoe kept coming back. Cleopatra never agreed to execute her until after the third attempt. I loved her villainous character. Arsenoe was awesome. The author's creation of the brothers characters showed them to be weak with no political skills and easy to depose. 

The ending gives us a different perspective on how Cleopatra's life could have ended. I must say that the author was imaginative with her plot. The book was a fantastic read. I believe all readers will love it too. 5 out of 5 stars.