Lily of the Nile

Lily of the Nile

by Stephanie Dray

368 pages

*** About the Book *** 

This historical fiction novel traces the life of Selene, daughter of Cleopatra, brought to Rome after the death of her mother and adopted into Ceasar's household.  Will Selene be able to cling to her mother's legacy of power and to her Egyptian gods or will she be Romanized?  Will she allow Ceasar to use her for his own ends or will she find a way to use him?


*** Why I Read It ***

I received this book (by request) directly from the author.  I was intrigued by the historical story especially since I'd read another version of it exactly a year ago.  And when Stephanie did a guest post on my blog her topic made me even more excited to read the book.


*** My Thoughts ***

I really enjoyed this book!  I read it over a month ago and much of it is still fresh in my mind - it's really stuck with me so far.

From the first few pages the author captured my attention by bringing in an unexpected twist: the story of wise men seeking a prophesied child.  Sound familiar?  A bit like the Christmas story maybe?  This aspect of the story gave the whole book a slightly different feel than I expected, and I liked it.

I also appreciated the inclusion of Isis worship in this book.  The author readily admits that much details of this historical worship of Isis have been lost but she creates a convincing religious atmosphere all the same.  I loved following the theme of religion throughout Selene's story.

And of course there are the wonderful historical characters who make up Cleopatra's and Ceasar's courts.  I found myself comparing Dray's characters to those created by Michelle Moran in Cleopatra's Daughter and also to those in the HBO series Rome (here's a clip if you never saw it).  Each time these characters are portrayed there are slight differences but there are also many similarities; that makes me feel much better about each book (or show) because I feel like the authors are pulling as much from the historical documents as they can.

For those of you who read and enjoyed Cleopatra's Daughter, this story is different enough to be worth reading - I think you'll really enjoy it.  And for those who are new to the story of Selene, definitely pick up a copy of Lily of the Nile!