Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World, #1)
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See moreRenowned author and historian Jackie French takes us back in time to Greece and Rome and explores young heroes in ancient myths and legends whose stories will now be told.
Forget what you know about Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen with a fantastic hairstyle. That's only part of the story. Before she was a ruler, Cleopatra was a girl with a fierce ambition: to become pharaoh.
When twelve-year-old Cleopatra and her father, Pharaoh Ptolemy XII, flee to ancient Rome in 59 BCE after Cleopatra's sister seizes the throne, they are in serious trouble. It's up to Cleopatra to raise enough gold to hire an army, gain the support of powerful allies, and take back her country's land.
Three years later she had become the most famous pharaoh in history.
This is the story of how that year in ancient Rome might have changed Cleopatra's life, with daring escapes, crocodiles, pirates, shipwreck, and encountering the intrepid Captain Fileas and Myra, the slave determined to be free.
From one of Australia's best-loved authors comes the first title in an exciting new series that explores the Ancient World with Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King.
Series: Heroes in the Ancient World
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INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781460766545
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 26 May 2026
Country: Australia
Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
Audience: Children
DIMENSIONS
Weight: 300g
Pages: 288
About the Author
Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014β2015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016, Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres β from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi, to her much-loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. 'A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world' was the primary philosophy behind Jackie's two-year term as Laureate. jackiefrench.com facebook.com/authorjackiefrench
Also by Jackie French
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