Absolutely right. Ramses II. was in war with the Hittites and when both parties were exhausted one time they signed the first peace contract of the world - one version written in Cuneiform and one version in Hieroglyphs, which - of course - claims Ramses to be the winner (that was surely not the case). This ist what we know from historical records.
I never heard of that novel yet. I like such stuff when facts and fiction are mixed. ;)
I don't know exactly how many real Pharaos were female, but I think there were only a handful of such leaders. But women played nevertheless a great role even in politics. Maybe I will write something about women's power in one of my next articles. ;)