Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt (Ancient Egypt), follows Alexander the Great from his early years, where his education and family shaped him into the man he would become, and the path he took in his quest for godhood. Where did the idea for this novel come from, and how did it develop over time?

The idea for Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt began in childhood. I first encountered Alexander the Great not as a conqueror, but as a boy—curious, brilliant, and shaped by the towering figures around him: his mother Olympias, his tutor Aristotle, and his father Philip II. That early impression stayed with me, and over time, I became fascinated by the tension between his human vulnerabilities and his relentless pursuit of divinity.

The novel developed over several decades of research, reflection, and writing. My academic background in Egyptology helped me reconstruct the coronation scene with historical precision, but the heart of the story lies in the relationships. I wanted to explore not just Alexander’s military campaigns, but the quieter, more intimate dynamics—his bond with Hephaestion, the resistance of Cassander, and the emergence of figures like Ptolemy and Seleucus who would inherit and fracture his empire.

What shaped the novel most, however, was the experience of physically following in Alexander’s footsteps. I was in Egypt during the Revolution of 2011, a time of immense upheaval and uncertainty. Despite the danger, I travelled out to Siwa—the site of Alexander’s legendary visit to the Oracle of Amun—under armed escort. That journey was transformative. Standing in the desert where he once stood, surrounded by echoes of ancient ritual and modern unrest, gave me a visceral sense of the stakes he faced and the myth he was becoming.

Ultimately, Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt became a meditation on greatness—how it’s defined, who pays for it, and whether it can coexist with compassion. It’s a story of fractured ideals and enduring friendships, told through the lens of history but driven by timeless human emotion.

What intrigues you about the time period of Ancient Egypt and its history that led you to write this thrilling and insightful period piece?

What intrigues me most about Ancient Egypt is its duality—how it balanced the mystical with the administrative, the divine with the deeply human. It was a civilization obsessed with eternity, yet governed by people whose ambitions, flaws, and relationships were strikingly familiar. That tension between timeless ritual and personal drama is what drew me in.

As someone who studied Egyptology formally, I was intrigued by how much of Egypt’s history is preserved in fragments—temples, tombs, inscriptions—and how much is still open to interpretation. Writing historical fiction allows me to bridge those gaps, to imagine the emotional lives behind the monuments. In Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt, I wanted to explore what it meant for a foreign conqueror to step into that sacred landscape and claim divinity. What did it cost him? What did it mean to the people who witnessed it?

Egypt’s coronation rituals, its symbolism, its obsession with legacy—all of it offered a rich canvas for storytelling. But ultimately, it was the human element that pulled me in — the friendships, betrayals, and moral choices that echo across centuries. Ancient Egypt wasn’t just a backdrop—it was a character in its own right.

What experience in your life has had the most significant impact on your writing?

It’s hard to pinpoint just one experience that shaped my writing—my early life was full of extremes. My family travelled constantly, which opened my eyes to diverse cultures, landscapes, and histories. But alongside that adventure came profound loss. We lived through the worst weather event ever recorded and later lost everything in a war. At one point, we spent two years living on a ship with no money, no school, no internet, and no music. My father controlled the radio, and as a girl, I wasn’t allowed to mix with the crew. Apart from a few kind cadets who were vetted to speak with me, I spent most of my time alone in a cabin studying. My mother was a trained teacher and set a relentless pace!

That isolation became a crucible for imagination. With no distractions, no peers, and nothing but silence, I turned inward—and that’s when ancient Egypt, art, storytelling, and Alexander the Great found me. I was captivated by the grandeur of lost civilizations, but even more by the emotional complexity of their leaders. Alexander, especially, fascinated me: a boy forged by myth and ambition, driven by a sense of destiny that reached beyond the mortal. He lived with one eye on the present and the other fixed on eternity. That dual gaze—earthbound and divine—is part of why we still remember him.

Writing became a way to make sense of the world—its beauty, its brutality, and the fragile threads of connection that hold people together. That ship, that silence, that solitude—they weren’t just hardships. They were the beginning of everything I write now.

Do you have plans to continue the Ancient Egypt series, or are you working on something new?

Yes, I do plan to continue the Ancient Egypt series—but Cleopatra, the Greek Pharaoh will be the final installment. I’m currently in the early stages of writing it, and it feels like a natural culmination. Cleopatra has always fascinated me—not just as a political strategist and intellectual, but as a woman navigating power, identity, and survival in a collapsing world.

This book will explore the final chapter of Egypt’s dynastic history through her eyes, blending historical rigour with emotional depth. While Alexander, Pharaoh of Egypt examined the cost of greatness through conquest, Cleopatra, the Greek Pharaoh will interrogate legacy and resilience in the face of cultural erasure. It’s a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time, and I’m excited to bring her world—and her voice—to life.

Ending the series with Cleopatra feels right. She represents both the brilliance and the fragility of empire, and her story closes the arc I began years ago with Moses and Akhenaten.

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