LILY OF THE NILE - Stephanie Dray
A Perfect 10
Berkley Trade paperback
ISBN: 978-0-425-23855-4
January 2011
Historical Fiction

Rome , 40 B.C.

Cleopatra is dead, and the Roman army has captured all of Egypt . In Roman custody, Cleopatra's three children by Antony , the twins Selene and Helios, and their younger brother Philadelphus are taken to Rome as war prizes. At their arrival, they are chained and forced to take part in Octavian's triumphal parade through Rome as captives reviled by all of Rome . Octavian then gives the children into the care of his sister Octavia, the wife Antony deserted for Cleopatra.

Selene's life changes dramatically. She buries her fear and outrage by adapting to the Roman way of doing things. Her twin, Helios, does not, and he suffers terrible punishments for his defiance. However vanquished Selene appears, she does not forget her mother, her father, or Egypt . Part of her past history is her belief in Isis, and the goddess's magic. Even in Rome there are many followers of the Isiac religion, believers who cause Octavian problems and who see Selene and Helios as guises of the goddess.

Octavian, who becomes Caesar Augustus, is brilliant at strategy and manipulation. If she is to regain Egypt , Selene knows she must study her unwelcome mentor.

Besides being a beguiling story, LILY OF THE NILE gives a depiction of a name little known in history. Selene is wise beyond her years, probably from the events that preceded her arrival in Rome and her treatment afterward. She has gone from a Princess of Egypt to an orphaned prisoner in a hostile world. Readers will feel as if they are in ancient Rome with Selene while they read her dramatic struggle. Surprises and touches of paranormal thread through the story as the children display some of the powers of the Egyptian deities they represent. All these elements earn LILY OF THE NILE, the first of a trilogy, a Perfect 10.

Robin Lee