Reviews for Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt: 'Magnificent ... strips away preconceptions to provide a rich, absorbing picture of a country and its Egyptian Queen * Belfast Telegraph *
This excellent biography scores with a wealth of splendid detail. * Independent *
Tyldesley's strength has always been her storytelling, and here she is on top form. * Sunday Telegraph *
[An] engaging reconstruction of [King Tutankhamen's] tomb discovery, family and life. Fluent in her subject, Tyldesley gives her own spin to the story in order to get beyond the sensational nonsense.... Tyldesley does an admirable detective job of reconstructing the boy king's narrative. * Kirkus Reviews *
[An] authoritative book.... If Tyldesley finds the curse stories empty nourishment, the core of her book reveals Egyptian history to be full of more satisfying riches. Sifting through the findings from Tutankhamen's tomb, and the arguments of Egyptologists since, she aims to resurrect the man behind the mask. She succeeds: Tutankhamen emerges as a credible figure, a ruler presiding over a turning point in history, when his father Akhenaten's heresies were abandoned and the polytheistic traditions revived.... That has always been Tutankhamen's power: ...to charm all who encounter him. As Tyldesley confesses, he kindled her schoolgirl fixation with ancient Egypt. She calls this 'my own personal version of Tutankhamen's curse', but if it inspires books like this, the rest of us may consider it a kind of blessing. * Sunday Times *
