Historical fiction novel Cleopatra by British author Saara El Arifi has hit the shelves.
It is set to be a memoir of the ancient Egyptian empress,
who was crowned as the new Pharaoh at the age of nineteen after her father
passed away.
Throughout her life, she faced challenges and battled deadly
rivalries to keep her throne and turn Alexandria into a thriving city.
Eventually, she grew into a savvy, compassionate ruler, but
her entanglement with Rome set in motion a tragic collision between the two
empires.
According to the author, her novel aims to reclaim the story
of Cleopatra from tales that she finds to be biased and told from perspectives
that did not do her justice.
“The historians we have relied upon to tell her tale lived
centuries after her death,” Saara said in an interview.
“The men whose words were preserved, such as Cicero, often
originated from Rome, and their opinions were shaped by the propaganda of the
Roman Republic.
“Her legend is only referenced in relation to Antonius and
Caesar; too significant to ignore, too unpalatable to warrant her own
narrative.
“The archetypes are built on her relationships to men. I
wanted to dismantle that truth. She was beyond that: she was a scholar, she was
a mother, she was a friend,” she added.
Saara holds a Master’s degree in African Studies from the
School of Oriental and African Studies - London University. She is of Sudanese
and Ghanaian descent, and was born and raised in Abu Dhabi before relocating to
Sheffield with her family.
