Cleopatra's Shadows
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- £2.49
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- £2.49
Publisher Description
Three sisters. One throne.
An epic battle begins.
Abandoned by her beloved older sister Cleopatra and an indifferent father, Arsinoe, a young Egyptian princess, must fight for survival in the bloodthirsty royal court after her half-sister Berenice seizes power.
But despite using her quick-wits to win Berenice's favour, Arsinoe struggles to establish herself in a uncertain new world, one that carries her from the conspiratorial dangers of the palace, to the streets of war-torn Alexandria.
Meanwhile, her other sister, the usurper Berenice, has her own demons to confront - her cruel, flagging mother, a pair of fickle husbands, and the ever-present threat that her father will return from exile-as she fights to hold the throne as the first queen of Egypt in a thousand years.
Perfect for historical fiction fans who loved discovering The Other Boleyn Girl, Cleopatra's Shadows reimagines Cleopatra's rise to power through the eyes of her forgotten younger sister, Arsinoe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Holleman's historically detailed and multilayered debut captures the hostile dynamics between the last generation of the Ptolemaic dynasty as Berenice, elder sister of Cleopatra, leads a coup to oust her hated father as ruler of Hellenistic Egypt. While the more famous Cleopatra makes cameos at the beginning and end of the book, the action centers on Berenice's struggles to establish her rule and preserve her imperiled kingdom, while their youngest sister, Arsinoe, finds her own life in danger from various threats. Holleman mines the tense though at times static scenes with scintillating visual details of gorgeous palaces, rich temples, and the famous library of Alexandria, evoking a world in which the ancient heroes Alexander and Odysseus and Greek tragic characters such as Antigone come to life. The book deftly imagines the intricacies of the life of an ancient ruler, in which the rhythms of the Nile and native Egyptian deities mesh uneasily with Greek rites. Berenice is portrayed as ruthless and conflicted, fearful of being seen as soft, while Arsinoe grows increasingly aware that her visions are not dreams but portents, a difficult gift. Holleman's imaginative, textured portraits of the lives and ambitions of these little-known heroines will appeal to readers of historical and literary fiction alike.
