Book Review by Ace & Adele: Mara, Daughter of the Nile

About the Book:

Mara, Daughter of the Nile was written by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Although Mara was first published in 1953, the author first toured Egypt in 1964. She was able to tell the story because her hobby was to study ancient Egyptian history and customs. Although the book was written long ago, it is still a relevant piece of historical fiction. Many of parts of the story such as the people (Hatshepsut and Thutmose) and geography (Egypt and the Nile River) are real; however, the main characters in the story are not. Hatshepsut did lose the crown to Thutmose III in actuality, but how it happened in Mara, Daughter of the Nile is clever fiction.

Plot Summary:

The story is set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Hatshepsut, who was regarded as one of the more successful pharaohs and reigned longest of any of the other (rare) women pharaohs in history. The life of a fictional slave girl named Mara takes a turn when she is offered the chance for freedom if she will first pose as a palace interpreter in order to spy on Thutmose. On the way to Hatshepsut’s palace she meets Sheftu, and Mara’s life takes another turn. Sheftu’s plan to overthrow Hatshepsut and Mara’s desire to better her odds in getting freedom turn her into a double agent. There is just one problem. It turns out that there may be something more valuable to Mara and Sheftu than what they first thought was most important.

Adele’s View:

Hi all! It’s Adele! My favorite character in this book was Mara because she was a slave who became a countess. It just goes to show that you can become anything, even if you are forced to do something else at first.

I could relate to Inanni, the Mesopotamian princess, because she is in a new land, and I just changed schools. Mara poses as Inanni’s interpreter to spy on Thutmose, but Mara and Inanni have something in common. They are both wise women, and become friends. I did not particularly like Miphtahyah, who was a tavern owner and guardian of Sheftu. Although she was being protective of Sheftu, she snapped at Mara in front of a lot of people.

I liked the way that the author told the story because it was cool when she changed from Mara’s perspective to Inanni’s perspective.

I would recommend this book to adults or to kids who have a strong vocabulary. I would not recommend this to kids under the age of ten because I found this book very hard to read.


Ace’s Turn:

My favorite character in the story was Sheftu because he was sneaky, had great plans, and made witty comebacks. I think I relate to Sheftu because he is smart. He shows this by getting people to do his dirty work. But getting people to do my dirty work is not one of my traits even though that seems like it would be fun sometimes.

I did not particularly like Hatshepsut in the story because she was portrayed as mean, bossy, lazy, and a snob. In this book, Hatshepsut is more interested in her royal status than in her people.

I liked the way the author told the story because he alternated views. Sometimes he wrote in Mara’s perspective, and sometimes he wrote in Sheftu’s and the Princess’s points of view.

I would recommend this book because is a good story, it is written in different perspectives, and the characters were engaging.

Ace and Adele's Question for You:

Have you read any good historical fiction books that you would recommend?