The Memoirs of Cleopatra

Told as Cleopatra VII’s own memoir, the novel follows the last Ptolemaic queen from childhood in an unstable royal household to her struggle for sole control of Egypt. Exiled by the advisers of her brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIII, Cleopatra seeks the support of Julius Caesar during the Alexandrian War and regains her throne. Their political and personal alliance produces Caesarion and draws her into the final conflicts of the Roman Republic, but Caesar’s assassination leaves both her position and her son’s future exposed.

Cleopatra later forms a partnership with Mark Antony, building a court and family that challenge Octavian’s claim to control the Roman world. The novel follows their eastern campaigns, diplomatic bargains, marriage, children and worsening confrontation with Rome, including Antony’s ties to Octavia and Cleopatra’s relations with Herod the Great. Defeat at Actium and the invasion of Egypt destroy their political project. Rather than submit to Octavian’s triumph, Cleopatra plans her death while attempting to protect Caesarion and her surviving children, bringing both her reign and Ptolemaic Egypt to an end.