Nefertiti: A Novel

Author: Michelle Moran

In preparing for a trip to Egypt, I started reading about famous Egyptian rulers. Amidst the predominantly male pharaohs a few names like Cleopatra and Nefertiti stand out. I was curious to see how they climbed to the top and were so successful. 

For Cleopatra, I took the path of a more scholarly work of non-fiction and read a recent book on Cleopatra’s daughter, Selene. Since that was rather dry in nature, I chose to go the route of historical fiction for Nefertiti. I looked at a few reviews online and picked up this book by Michelle Moran with rather low expectations. Once I started reading it, though I was amazed at how beautifully she had laid out the story. Right from choosing Nefertiti’s sister, Mutnodjmet as the narrator she created memorable characters that you could really identify with.  Nefertiti’s story is by itself engaging enough to keep you interested, but MIchelle really makes it enjoyable. From her afterword, I gathered that it is fairly accurate in terms of the major events and I will remember these much longer than the historical account of Selene that I read before this.