CLEOPATRA

Beneath a heavy cover studded with “rubies” and other “gems,” the diary of one of Cleopatra’s handmaids offers a look at Ptolemaic Egypt’s last years. Interspersed with comments about cats, the court and life in Alexandria, ten-year-old Nefret’s chatty record of Cleopatra’s successive intrigues with her husband/brother Ptolemy, Julius Caesar and later Marc Antony ends partway through. Then Geras switches to third person to trace Cleo’s later life and to cover a series of related topics, from Egyptian people and gods to the Roman army. Robertson’s paintings range from busy Alexandria street scenes to a view of Caesar’s bloody corpse, and are populated with natural-looking, sometimes humorous figures, including a glimpse of Nefret “walking like an Egyptian.” Capped by photos of the pyramids and Egyptian artifacts, this mix of fact and fancy isn’t exactly seamless, but it does introduce one of history’s heroines and brings her era to life in a reasonably accurate way. (glossary, index) (Historical fiction. 9-11)