Pharaoh, by Karen Essex
Pharaoh is exceedingly rich in cultural and historic detail, so much so that an occasional over-simplification serves to remind the reader that it is a work of fiction. While the victor usually writes the history, in the case of Karen Essex' novels Kleopatra and Pharaoh, the vanquished gets a voice. Thus, Essex makes some points that Roman historians might dismiss as the less probable reading of the ancient historians. Her point is not, however, to paint the Romans in the resplendent hues of imperial sycophants, but with the same tarnishing brush once taken to her personal favorite, Cleopatra.
With the deaths of everyone the reader cares about, Pharaoh is a melancholy, but truly satisfying story.
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