Cleopatra’s Shadows
While Cleopatra is universally known, her older and younger sisters, Berenice and Arsinoe, have been relegated to mere footnotes in history. Author Holleman attempts to remedy that with this sumptuously written novel, first in a planned series, set in a brilliant but decadent Ptolemaic Egypt on the verge of complete Roman dominance.
A bloody palace coup led by the teenaged Berenice forces her father King Ptolemy “the Piper” to flee to Rome, taking Cleopatra, his favorite daughter, with him. His concubine also steals away with their young sons, abandoning the eight-year-old Arsinoe. Although Berenice, busy consolidating her power base to become Queen of the Two Lands, can barely picture Arsinoe’s face, she’s urged by her vindictive mother, Tryphaena, to execute the child; however, after meeting with Arsinoe, she prefers to leave her sister alive. Clever Arsinoe, who discovers that her ominous dreams often portend reality, learns to survive amidst war-ravaged Alexandria, aided by her all-knowing eunuch tutor, Ganymedes, and her faithful playmate, Alexander. Meanwhile, Berenice, the first queen to rule Egypt in a thousand years, finds herself battling political machinations, palace intrigue, untrustworthy advisers, and a couple of unsuitable husbands in her attempt to maintain control. When the news arrives that their father’s return to Egypt is imminent, both girls must make difficult choices to stay alive in a dynasty that seems to prefer killing each other off rather than existing in harmony.
Told from the alternating points of view of each girl, and filled with beautiful images and authentic details of the palaces, temples, and slums of Hellenistic Alexandria, Holleman’s smoothly flowing narrative pulls you along like a voyage down the Nile, immersing you in the story of these unforgettable and tragic royals.
