Fiction Pick of the Week: The Heretic Queen

The Heretic Queen: a novel by Michelle Moran 2008

Michelle Moran first wrote the book Nefertiti, a story that took place in the time of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty. In this story readers learned that when tribes of people worshipped other deities other than Egyptian gods, they were considered to be heretics and unfit to rule. This story is important to the sequel, The Heretic Queen, as we learn from Nefertari, the last of her line, how the curse of her family’s name made her life so precariously dangerous. Moran has written a fictional account of the famous marriage between Nefertari and Ramesses based on archival information from Egyptologists. This combination of fact and fiction make for a fascinating glimpse into the social customs, religions and wars of Egypt. How does a young woman groomed to become a wife of Ramesses overcome the hatred and suspicion of the people who want to see her dead rather than become Queen? The courts of the royals and priests and full of people who plot her demise, and Nefertari fears that even if she becomes a wife of Ramesses, she will never be promoted to Chief Wife. Yet, she discovers that even though she has not the beauty and guile of Ramesses’ first wife, Ramesses finds her captivating. She is also valuable: Nefertari speaks many languages, and that was how she began a foothold of strength in winning the heart and mind of Ramesses and the Egyptian people. Both in this story and in real life, neither Ramesses nor Nefertari were traditional in their thinking, and perhaps that is one reason why they both got along so well. Nefertari rode to war with her husband, which was unthinkable then. Ramesses authored the Treaty of Kadesh, which is thought to be the world’s first example of an international peace treaty. That, too, was unthinkable then. The Heretic Queen is a wonderful example of historical fiction.