Cleopatra Confesses

Everyone thinks they know the story of Cleopatra, right?  Or at least the movie version that brought Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton together?

Cleopatra Confesses introduces us to a new Cleopatra, not the seductress, but the favored daughter who loved her country more than anything, and who was forced into a loveless marriage with not just one younger brother (as was custom), but when that one died, her other younger brother!

Here is the summary from Goodreads:
It is the first century B.C. Cleopatra, the third of the pharaoh's six children, is the one that her father has chosen to be the next queen of Egypt. But when King Ptolemy is forced into exile, Cleopatra is left alone to fend for herself in a palace rife with intrigue and murder. Smart, courageous, ambitious and sensuously beautiful, she possesses the charm to cause two of history's most famous leaders to fall in love with her. But as her cruel sisters plot to steal the throne, Cleopatra realizes there is only one person on whom she can rely--herself.

I really liked this book.  It was well written and researched, and I liked that it gave a different perspective than the seductress Cleopatra.  The Cleopatra portrayed in this book is one who is fiercely loyal to her country, a woman who is smart and sensitive but is often a pawn in her own life.


Cleopatra's story is narrated by Cleopatra and starts when she is roughly 10 and follows her through her father's rule, exile, the joint rule of her sisters, her father's return, becoming Queen, and her two great loves, Caesar and Marc Antony.  



The last chapter is so sad when she talks about Caesar's death and then Marc Antony's death and leading up to her own suicide by asp.  


Because it was interesting and well written, I gave it a 4 on goodreads.  




*I downloaded this book for free thanks to Simon & Schuster's GalleyGrab program.*