Princess Cleopatra narrates major episodes from her life in a diary she keeps from age 12 to 14. She is sympathetically depicted as a delightful mixture of adolescent uncertainty and as a young woman with great maturity and insight. Born into a royal household full of intrigue and fears of assassination, she desperately wants to survive to become a responsible and just queen. She describes everyday life in the Egyptian court and her frantic flight to Rome with her father, Ptolemy XII, to seek refuge and alliance with the Romans against their enemies and her sisters, who both seek the throne. Characters are well drawn, Cleopatra's relationships with others are realistically portrayed, and historical background is well integrated into the text. This is an enjoyable story, followed by a synopsis of the queen's later years, a time line, family tree, and black-and-white reproductions of old engravings and paintings. Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.