Vicky Alvear Shecter plunges us into the captivating world of Cleopatra Selene, the only one of Queen Cleopatra's four children to survive into adulthood. Shecter anchors this work of fiction (her first) with fascinating facts (accrued for nonfiction books such as Cleopatra Rules!). We meet 16-year-old narrator Cleopatra Selene as she sails on a Roman ship bound for Africa. Her twin brother, Alexandros Helios, has died during the voyage. "I stared at the sea," Cleopatra says, "trying to understand how I came to be here.... How was it that I went from a Princess of Egypt... to a prisoner of Rome?" The author thus brilliantly sets up the framework of the novel, as the teen reflects on her past, and fears what lies ahead.
Her memory of a ceremony at age seven in Alexandria, Egypt, exposes the conflict between Cleopatra Selene's father, Marcus Antonius, and Octavianus, chosen by Julius Caesar (Queen Cleopatra's first husband) as his successor. Another defining moment involves a trip to the Jewish Quarter with her tutor. The heroine meets a rabbi who introduces her to the concept of "free will." Even after her parents' deaths and her forced move to the house of her enemy, Octavianus, in Rome, Cleopatra Selene realizes she has choices. She falls in love and finds herself weighing whether to marry for love or for power. This riveting story serves as a powerful reminder of how the questions so central to becoming an adult cross every line of class, era and culture. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness
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