THe Marriage of Two Minds

[bibliogramma]

Channelling Cleopatra, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

What if you could commune at the most intimate level with the mind of an ancient hero, philosopher or poet, learn their secrets and have their wisdom and experience available to you at all times? What would you do to have that advantage? Would it be preservation of a historical treasure beyond value, or the worst kind of theft? And how would the person whose mind you had resurrected feel about it all?

These are some of the questions considered in Scarborough’s Channelling Cleopatra. It’s on the whole an interesting book, one that I was particularly fascinated by because I happen to have a mild obsession with the historical Cleopatra. It was a pleasure to see that the book does her character justice, and that it takes the questions raised by the storyline seriously – most notably the issue of Western appropriation of cultural artefacts (using the term quite loosely in reference to this book). Other enjoyable aspects of the book are the number of strong female characters, in addition to the Great Queen herself, and an element of a mystery/spy thriller tossed into the mix.

Fun to read.