Book Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

I actually read this book a couple years ago and loved it. Recently as I was trying to pick some books to recommend in my book group I came across it and thought I'd read it again. And I loved it again.

I tend to get excited about certain topics and read it to death for a while and then move on. Nefertiti was during my Egyptian phase. I hadn't actually ever heard about Nefertiti before I read this book but she is really interesting.

Many scholars believe that Nefertiti was a Queen that actually became Pharaoh eventually, and this book follows that line of thought. It outlines the story of Nefertiti from her marriage to the Pharaoh at 15 years old to her eventual death at 31. Her husband is described as an unbalanced man, afraid of the army and obsessed with raising the obscure god, Aten, into being the main god of Egypt. He basically undoes most of the good his father did during his reign and bring Egypt nearly to ruin.

Nefertiti is a smart, beautiful woman whom the people love and is basically the only thing standing between Pharaoh and a rebellion. This book tells the story of what Nefertiti did to keep her husband interested in her (instead of his second wife) in order to ensure her family stayed in power to secretly rule the country that Pharaoh was single handedly bringing to ruin. The whole book is narrated by Nefertiti's younger sister and I feel it was very well done. Even though I had read it before it was a real page turner.

If you have nothing to read right now go get this book. I loved it and I'm sure I'll be reading it again in a few years. I also read The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran a few years ago and enjoyed it as well. It's about Nefertiti's niece. It is a little bit more of a romance instead of a historical fiction but sometimes I need to read something a little more fun and romantic.