Book review: Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Mara, Daughter of the Nile was assigned reading for my 8th grade world history class during the ancient Egypt portion. I really liked it then, and when I came across it in a thrift store, I bought it for nostalgic reasons. It's clear from the name written on the book's edges and the highlighting that another eighth grader read then discarded this book. Rather funny and full circle-y.

Requisite Amazon summary:

Mara is a proud and beautiful slave girl who yearns for freedom in ancient Egypt, under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. So, to barter for her freedom, she finds herself playing the dangerous role of double spy for two arch enemies—each of whom supports a contender for the throne of Egypt.

Against her will, Mara finds herself falling in love with one of her masters, the noble Sheftu, and she starts to believe in his plans of restoring Thutmose III to the throne. But just when Mara is ready to offer Sheftu her help and her heart, her duplicity is discovered, and a battle ensues in which both Mara’s life and the fate of Egypt are at stake.

So, pretty exciting stuff, right? 13 year old me was engrossed. Adult me enjoyed it but has some criticisms. First of all, Mara is totally a Mary Sue. She's really smart: not only can she read and write, but she also speaks fluent Babylonian. She's really clever, crafty and resourceful, dodging and out-maneuvering strong adult men and having the ability, as a 17 year old girl, to play two powerful political leaders as a double agent. Let's not forget that she can twist young men around her little finger just by flirting with them and has Sheftu falling in love with her, despite her acting bratty towards him. Oh, and she's really pretty, with blue eyes. Like seriously. Obviously 8th grade me loved this story about a clever bilingual resourceful teen girl w/ blue eyes, but as an adult I want my heroines to feel like real people. 

Mara doesn't remember her parents and has been sold to multiple owners, but she has a vague memory of someone showing her affection, and we're supposed to intuit from that that that's why she knows Babylonian. That makes no sense. If I learned a language as a (very small) child, I would not still be fluent in said language as an older teen if I hadn't had anyone speak it with me in over a decade. Maybe previous masters had Babylonian slaves who talked to her, or she made friends with Babylonians wherever she was forced to go? It's just too convenient. In the beginning of the book we see Mara steal a scroll from her (illiterate) master's library, so I guess that's how she was able to keep up her reading and writing skills. Something else that felt off to me was that Mara had gone through tons of masters and was always getting beaten for insolence and not doing her chores, and yet she still had this unbreakable spirit and was always mouthing off to her masters. ??? That's not really something that sounds accurate in a slavery-run society. It's something that I see too often. 

Mara did not feel 17 years old to me, except maybe in the way she acted towards Sheftu. The stuff she had to handle (being a translator for a homesick Babylonian princess and passing messages to the Prince of Egypt, handling two masters as a double agent, etc.) would simply not be possible for any teenage girl. A grown woman in M15, sure. I also didn't like Sheftu's behavior towards Mara. That whole "I don't know whether to kiss or spank you" crap is the worst thing about romance novels, and it's infantilizing for him to always call Mara "little one". And then they fall in love???? Honestly. 

I did like Mara's growing friendship with the Babylonian princess, who was Mara's opposite and so homesick for Canaan. It's clear that Ms. Jarvis McGraw did her research on ancient Egypt and the different cultures that would have interacted. The settings and scene building etc. were very vivid and felt real.

Anyway, I did enjoy this book as it has plenty of suspense and intrigue, even if it's not that believable character-wise. I'd say go ahead and read this book if you like 20th century historical romance novels with a mystery or bit of suspense. 

Cover notes: This cover is okay. It's very romantic and I can't speak to the historical accuracy of her clothing and the view, etc. There have only been a few other covers of MDotN, and they aren't much better. 

Score: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Read in: early July
From: the thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away