Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran

Cleopatra's Daughter
by Michelle Moran
Narrator: Wanda McCaddon
Pages: 431
Published by Random House Crown
Publication Date September 15th 2009
Goodreads

At the dawn of the Roman Empire, when tyranny ruled, a daughter of Egypt and a son of Rome found each other...

Selene's legendary parents are gone. Her country taken, she has been brought to the city of Rome in chains, with only her twin brother, Alexander, to remind her of home and all she once had.

Living under the watchful eyes of the ruling family, Selene and her brother must quickly learn how to be Roman – and how to be useful to Caesar. She puts her artistry to work, in the hope of staying alive and being allowed to return to Egypt. Before long, however, she is distracted by the young and handsome heir to the empire...

When the elusive ‘Red Eagle' starts calling for the end of slavery, Selene and Alexander are in grave danger. Will this mysterious figure bring their liberation, or their demise?

The Short of It

Cleopatra’s Daughter had been nesting on my bookshelf for several years.  Honestly, I could have waited a bit longer.  It read like a young adult novel but instead was misleadingly marketed towards adults.  I didn’t think the characters, particularly Selene were well-developed or even grew as individuals.

When I find it difficult to get through a print copy of a book but I refuse to give up, I turn to my library’s audiobook selection. I consider it my lifeline, and hope the lifeboat will take float. The audiobook was actually worse than its print counterpart. Wanda McCaddon’s reading sounded like it was coming out of a Victrola. The recording was grainy and as Selene is a child for half the book, it just didn’t fit for me.

I did finish Cleopatra’s Daughter but was greatly disappointed as I had enjoyed Michelle Moran’s other Egyptian books. After I closed the cover on this novel I dropped into a little library because as they say, someone’s trash is another person’s treasure.