I received this audio book last summer through Sync's annual audio book give away (which is happening right now, right HERE with a new batch of books). Two free audio books every week all through the summer. It is a pretty sweet deal.
Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter, read by Kirsten Potter
As a younger me I was obsessed with everything Ancient Egypt, and had decided to be an Egyptologist until I learned that would being in school for pretty much the rest of my life. So I moved on, and my love of Ancient Egypt faded, to resurface every so often when I would come across something awesomely Egyptian. Like this audio book!
The plot: It follows the life of Cleopatra's daughter, Cleopatra Selene through the death of her parents, and her being taken into the custody of the Roman man who ruined her life and took her land from her: Octavius, famously known as Caesar Augustus.
I hadn't known about Cleopatra's children before. I'd heard this story (the romance Cleopatra and Marc Antony, their suicides, and the conquest of Egypt by Rome) through history lessons and Shakespeare, but her children never came up. So this book tells this famous story through the eyes of the daughter who watches it all happen. It is a really unique historical perspective.
The narrator has a really mature and beautiful voice. She gives the voice of this young girl the dignity and power befitting a daughter of Cleopatra. It kind of makes you forget how old this girl as is she is facing these horrible disasters, but I found it fitting. She manages to give the voices of Cleopatra's younger brother an adorable youthful quality, and the voice of Octavius an angry, sinister one without creating caricatures.
Sadly I was unable to finish this audio book because the last track didn't download properly and won't play. I may have to finish this story by reading it in print. Of course it quit on a cliffhanger!
Edit: I picked up the print version from the library and finished the last two chapters. Nothing much to add, other than I enjoyed the historical facts at the end that explained what really happened, what there is evidance for, and what the author made up to benifit the story. I love it when historical fiction includes those. Hurray for learning!
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