The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

Bestselling novelist Margaret George brings to life the glittering kingdom of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, in this luch, sweeping, and richly detailed saga. Told in Cleopatra's own voice, this is a mesmerizing tale of ambition, passion, and betrayl, which begins when the twenty-year-old queen seeks out the most powerful man in the world, Julius Caesar, and does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death rather than be paraded in triumph through the streets of Rome.


Most of all, in its richness and authenticity, it is an irresistible story that reveals why Margaret George's work has been widely acclaimed as "the best kind of historical novel, one the reader can't wait to get lost in." (San Francisco Chronicle).

Paperback, 957 pages

Published May 15th 1998 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published April 15th 1997)

Audio Book - 49 hours, 55 minutes

Whew I finally finished this book, what a ride it was, almost 50 hours long.  This book has traveled

with me to Rome and even Egypt and back to Canada again.  I sat and crocheted an afghan, did housework

and had many a walks with my new puppy.  I was sad to see it end.  Donada Peters did a wonderful job of

reading this book,  from the POV of Cleopatra.  


This book started when Cleopatra was a child, it highlited the family history of the Ptolemy's. 
There was romance (of course with Julius Ceasar and Marc Anthony), battles, adventures and just a 
really good story.  By the end of the book I really felt like I knew Cleopatra, the author had such a way of writing 
that I felt like it was actually Cleopatra writing this herself, quite memorizing actually.


There were so many quotes in this book that spoke to me and I just have a share some.


“I loved him so, even his past was precious to me. I found myself kissing each mark, thinking, I would have had it never happen, I would wish it away, taking him further and further back to a time when he had known no disappointments, no battles, no wounds, as I erased each one. To make him again like Caesarion. Yet if we take the past away from those we love - even to protect them - do we not steal their very selves?” 


“Oh, he was just angry, we tell ourselves when someone blurts out something he later apologizes for. But a word, once spoken, lingers forever; to keep peace we pretend to forget, but we never do. Strange that a spoken word can have such lasting power when words carved on stone monuments vanish in spite of all our efforts to preserve them. What we would lose persists, lodged in our minds, and what we would keep is lost to water, moths, moss.” 


“But marrying within one's own family can get monotonous. One has heard all the same family stories, knows all the jokes and all the same recipes. No novelty.


“Things do not happen, we must make them happen”