Cleopatra: The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World, #1): Be swept away in a vibrant new...

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Jackie French

Cleopatra

Name: Cleopatra
Price: 16.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781460766545

The Girl Who Would Be King (Heroes in the Ancient World, #1): Be swept away in a vibrant new...

Jackie French

$16.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Harper Collins
26 May 2026

Children's & Educational; Adventure stories (Children's&YA); Historical fiction (Children's&YA); True stories (Children's&YA); People & places (Children's&YA)

Series: Heroes in the Ancient World

Renowned author and historian Jackie French takes us back in time to Greece and Rome and explores young heroes in ancient myths and legends whose stories will now be told.

Forget what you know about Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen with a fantastic hairstyle. That's only part of the story. Before she was a ruler, Cleopatra was a girl with a fierce ambition: to become pharaoh.

When twelve-year-old Cleopatra and her father, Pharaoh Ptolemy XII, flee to ancient Rome in 59 BCE after Cleopatra's sister seizes the throne, they are in serious trouble. It's up to Cleopatra to raise enough gold to hire an army, gain the support of powerful allies, and take back her country's land.

Three years later she had become the most famous pharaoh in history.

This is the story of how that year in ancient Rome might have changed Cleopatra's life, with daring escapes, crocodiles, pirates, shipwreck and encountering the intrepid Captain Fileas and Myra, the slave determined to be free.

From one of Australia's best-loved authors comes the first title in an exciting new series that explores the Ancient World.

PRAISE

'... delightful romp through antiquity' - Books+Publishing

By: Jackie French
Imprint: Harper Collins
Country of Publication: Australia
ISBN: 9781460766545
ISBN 10: 1460766547
Series: Heroes in the Ancient World
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 26 May 2026
Recommended Age: From 9 years
Audience: Children/juvenile , English as a second language
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016, Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi, to her much-loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. 'A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world' was the primary philosophy behind Jackie's two-year term as Laureate. jackiefrench.com facebook.com/authorjackiefrench