Historical Fiction in Ancient Times

Cleopatra’s Daughter

By: Michelle Moran

Crown 2009

Cleopatra and Marc Antony are dead. Crushed by Octavian’s army, three little children is all that remains of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Here begins the story of the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Set against the back drop of the Ancient world, little Cleopatra Selene and her twin brother Alexander, now orphaned, are taken by Octavian back to Rome. There, they are sent to live with Octavian’s sister Octavia, worrying about their future and dreaming of one day making it back to Egypt.

An interesting extrapolation of real events, Cleopatra’s Daughter is a pretty easy, light read. Writing historical fiction can go one of two ways. One; it could be hard to weave an interesting novel only based on what is known and having to fill in what is not and create character traits for historical figures or, two; it could be easy to create your story because you have so much room to be creative. For me it was pretty easy to get into because I know quite a bit about that specific time in history, along with the people who were there. And even though we may know a bit about what these figures were like through writings from the time, we still don’t know what they were really like. Selene and Alexander seem to be, at ten, very intelligent beyond their years, however maybe they were. Maybe that was the product of their access to the highest level of education, as children of an Egyptian queen. Children defiantly had to grow up much more quickly at that time in history.

Also some of the dialogue in the relationships seemed a bit mediocre or silly and I don’t feel as if Moran really spent a lot of time describing the time so as to really pull the reader in, but overall I enjoyed it for what it was, an easy read.

For anyone who likes this time period in history and know a lot about it, you will find that there is nothing new here but you might enjoy this one.

Story                          **

Characters                  **

Readability                  ***

Overall Rating             ***

www.michellemoran.com

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirate Latitudes

Michael Crichton

Harper Collins 2009

Found as a complete manuscript in Michael Crichton’s files and published posthumously in 2009, Pirate Latitudes is a swashbuckling pirate adventure on the high seas.

In the English colony of Port Royal in Jamaica, a group of misfits lead by Capt Charles Hunter is commissioned to travel to the heavily fortified Spanish port, Matanceros, where the Spanish galleon, El Trinidad thought to contain riches, is docked. Along the way they get captured by the Spanish Commander Cazalla, get caught in a storm at sea and encounter the mythical Cracken. 

This book is very different than Chrichton’s other novels. Most of his other novels deal with advances in science or technology but Pirate Latitudes reminded me more of Pirates of the Caribbean. The story even takes place in the same town.

There are a few too many characters that at times it was difficult to keep them all straight. And I didn’t find myself really engaged in the story, but it is a short read. I can see why Chrichton never published it while he was alive and I’m thinking maybe it was never intended to be published. Chalk this one up to publishers trying to make as much money from their talent as possible, even ones that are no longer with us.

Story              **

Characters       *

Readability       ***

Overall rating   ** 





www.michaelcrichton.net

Drugs Addiction and Incest

High On ArrivalHigh on Arrival

By: Mackenzie Phillips

Simon & Shuster 2009

Mackenzie Phillips, the star of One Day at a Time, recounts the details of her life, highlighting her drug addiction and the shocking and dysfunctional relationship she had with her father, John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, in this stunning sometimes disturbing memoir.

Most of the book deals with her drug addiction, because it was a part of her life and who she was for so long.

Phillips and her brother grew up as many children from divorced families do, living with their mother during the week, while spending weekends with their father. However; John Phillips was not your typical father. Drug use ran rampant in her father’s life and for Mackenzie; it became a normal way of life. She had her first experience with drugs when she was ten years old. Even being taught by her father how to do cocaine and shoot up as her life became a routine of drugs and partying, as her life spirals out of control, shooting up every twenty minutes.

The most shocking revelation in the book is her waking up, after a drug filled night, in the middle of having sex with her father and admitting that over time the incest became consensual.

There are some bright spots to her story, entering rehab to become sober for ten years, long enough to raise her son. But her story is one of deep despair and drug addiction, loss and longing. About trying to find acceptance and love from a parent, even if it means doing the unthinkable. She takes us inside the mind of a junkie, and shows us that life, for a junkie is all about getting the next fix. And the bridges burned along the way.

Reading a story like hers really made me realize how good my life is and glad that I have never suffered the affliction of addiction. The way she grew up, her father honestly didn’t think there was anything wrong with doing drugs or exposing his children to it. They felt it was what “cool” or “enlightened” people did. And she had experienced so much by the time she was even 14.

In many ways I think she was a victim of circumstance, of her upbringing. But one can’t ignore that she also had many opportunities that many others don’t. Her money financed her habit and when she wanted to go to rehab, she had the money for that too. Most in our society don’t have that luxury.

I feel a little bad that I couldn’t put this book down; but I was just rooting for things to turn out.

And I really enjoyed the telling of her life.

 

Story                     ***

Readability            ****

Overall Rating       ***1/2 

Historically Epic and Profound

Book of Negroes

By: Lawrence Hill

Harpercollins Canada, Limited 2007

Abducted from her West African village at the age of 11, Aminata Diallo is taken to North Carolina and sold into slavery. Not understanding where she is or what is expected of her, Aminata works on a plantation for the evil indigo producer Robinson Appleby, and later a Jewish duty inspector Solomon Lindo. She works for the British during the war for independence, entering names into the infamous Book of Negroes. And when the British offer freedom to loyalist slaves, her journey takes her to Nova Scotia and then to Sierra Leone where nothing is what she expected. Along the way she learns English, teaches herself and others to read and write, makes friends, and falls in love.

Lawrence Hill is one of Canada’s hottest authors. Book of Negroes is the most vivid account I have read of slavery since Roots. Hill writes in a way where we can actually feel the pain and confusion of being stolen from your home by people you have never saw before, taken to a place, where you don’t even know where it is in relation to where you are from, and not being able to speak the language.

The main character Aminata is somewhat a prototype of what it must have been like to endure the horror of slavery, from a female perspective. However we also meet many other characters who, being born in America, know no other life than being owned and have just accepted their circumstances.

This novel is a real journey. It made me look into myself and realize how hard some people’s lives can be and have been in the past, the adversities that have to be overcome and can be overcome, But most of all the triumph of the human soul and spirit.

The Book of Negroes was a real document that recorded the names of all the freed loyalist slaves.

Story *****

Character *****

Readability *****

Overall Rating *****

www.lawrencehill.com