Michelle is one of my favourite historical fiction authors. She has written 3 books on Egypt, 2 on France and 1 on India. So far.
Her first novel is Nefertiti, which focuses on the immensely interesting period of Egyptian history where their traditional religion, art style, etc. was shunted to the side and all new versions of these were implemented. Michelle has the story told by Nefertiti’s younger sister, Mutnodjmet. It’s interesting to read the story from a more sidelined perspective since Mutny isn’t directly involved in most of what’s going on. You get unique perspectives of fascinating historical figures and Michelle does very well at making them relatable people.
Her second novel, the Heretic Queen, is a continuation of Nefertiti, albeit many years later and told by Mutnodjmet’s only surviving daughter, Nefertari. She ends up marrying the very famous pharaoh Ramesses the Great. He built Nefertari a beautiful tomb at Abu Simbel and it’s said that Ramesses loved her all of his life, though he lived many decades more than she did.
Her third novel, Cleopatra’s Daughter, is, quite obviously, the story of Cleopatra Selene, the only daughter of the last pharaoh of Egypt. Selene is the only child of Cleopatra to survive into adulthood and she, along with her twin brother, were taken to Rome after Marc Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian. You get a good view of life in Rome and its politics and it gives quite a unique view of Octavian as well.
Her novels set in France didn’t enthrall me quite like the Egyptian ones did, but they were still really good. Madame Tussaud is her fourth novel, and it’s about the famous wax figure maker. Marie began her career in France in a museum that allowed the people to see their rulers and other important figures up close. It slid into the unsavory job is making death masks when the Revolution descended, but Marie manages to get free of France and flee to England and away from her darker life. The book does really well at getting to the tension and fear that was created by the Revolution.
I’m not going to say much about her other two novels, The Second Empress and Rebel Queen. I don’t remember enough about the Second Empress to give you an opinion and I haven’t yet read Rebel Queen, though it is on my to read list.
I really encourage you to check out her work.
Here is her website if you’d like to learn more about her: http://www.michellemoran.com/index.html
Thanks for stopping by!
-Erin