With all of the recent upheaval in Egypt, one must remember
that this exotic country has always known strife in one
form or another all the way back to the days of the
Pharaohs. And no other chaotic time could be more
fascinating that the era when the Romans deposed Queen
Cleopatra from her throne and took her children into
captivity.
In her new book, LILY OF THE NILE, author Stephanie Dray
examines the life of Cleopatra Selene, the captured
daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, and how she
struggled to adapt to life among the Romans.
After the death of her parents and the ransacking of the
elegant Egyptian city of Alexandria, Selene and her
brothers, Helios and Philadelphus, are captured by the
Romans and sent to Rome to learn to live like Romans under
the watchful eye of the Emperor Octavius.
Unbeknown to the Romans, they are no ordinary Egyptian
royalty, for all three of the children are blessed with
magic bestowed to them by their mother and the goddess
Isis. Selene and her twin brother, Helios, are known as the
Two Saviors, the two people who are destined to bring back
the Golden Age of their homeland.
With her extensive political knowledge (even at her young
age), Selene begins to plan how she can return to bring
prosperity to Egypt, even if it means bending to the rules
and customs of the Romans to get her way. With sheer
determination and courage, Selene begins to mature from a
girl that had little but the strength of her name into a
woman that proves that she has the capability to rule in
the world of men.
In the first of a proposed trilogy following the life of
Princess Selene, Dray sets up this dramatic and intriguing
historical fiction with all the machinations of a real-life
soap opera, complete with all of the backstabbing,
conniving and plotting that must have ruled the day back
then (much as it does now). Dray breathes life into her
characters, giving them a humanistic feel as she brings
history to life with this tale.
Dray also adds a generous dose of magic into the mix as she
touches on the mystic worship of the Goddess Isis, and how
Selene and her brothers are able to tap into their worship
of the Goddess, as well as the belief that Selene herself
is the Goddess incarnate, to strengthen their will and
determination to once again come into power to rule their
country and people once again.
With a heroic teenage heroine as the main focus of this
coming-of-age book, it is suitable reading for mature
teens, but adults will also find LILY OF THE NILE a
fascinating read.
Heiress of one empire and
prisoner of another, it is up to
the daughter of Cleopatra to
save her brothers and reclaim
what is rightfully hers...
To Isis worshippers, Princess Selene and her twin
brother Helios embody the divine celestial pair who
will bring about a Golden Age. But when Selene’s
parents are vanquished by Rome, her auspicious
birth becomes a curse.
Trapped in an empire that
reviles her heritage and suspects her faith, the young
messianic princess struggles for survival in a Roman
court of intrigue. She can’t hide the hieroglyphics
that carve themselves into her hands, nor can she
stop the emperor from using her powers for his
own ends. But faced with a new and ruthless Caesar
who is obsessed with having a Cleopatra of his very
own, Selene is determined to resurrect her mother’s
dreams.
Can she succeed where her mother failed?
And what will it cost her in a political game where
the only rule is win—or die?
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