Cleopatra is the most famous woman in history. This is the book that finally makes you understand why.



She was never supposed to be queen. The gods had other plans.

Everyone in the palace of Alexandria knows the order of things. Tryphaena is the beauty. Berenike is the viper. And Kleopatra, the fourteen-year-old with the green eyes and the scrolls, is the bookworm nobody worries about. That is, until a silver pendulum in a dead conqueror's tomb spins out of control, and a fist slams the lid of Alexander's crystal coffin from the inside.

Now Kleopatra is running. Her father, King Ptolemy Auletes, has fled to Rome to beg for an army. Her beloved sister Tryphaena is in danger. And Berenike, cold-eyed and hungry for the throne, has sent soldiers to bring back Kleopatra's head in a basket. The girl who wanted nothing more than to teach in the Great Library finds herself crossing shark-infested harbors, desert sandstorms, and the ruins of a city in revolt, guided by a goddess who wears the red crown of Lower Egypt and speaks in riddles.

But Kleopatra is not the girl her family dismissed. She speaks nine languages. She knows the secret passages of the palace. She has looked into the face of a god and drunk from the cup of knowledge. And she is beginning to understand that mercy, not cruelty, is the sharpest weapon in a dynasty built on blood.

The question is whether she can survive long enough to use it.

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller's Circe and Conn Iggulden's Emperor series.

A story of a girl forged in fire, sand, and the favor of ancient gods.