This week, we're welcoming longtime contributor and historical novelist Stephanie Dray, who is celebrating the release of her latest novel, Song of the Nile, the exciting sequel to Lily of the Nile from Berkley. The novel is set in Augustan Rome and ancient Mauritania. Stephanie is here to talk about the novel, answer questions and give away a copy. Here's the blurb:
Sorceress. Seductress. Schemer. Cleopatra’s daughter has become the emperor’s most unlikely apprentice and the one woman who can destroy his empire…
Having survived her perilous childhood as a royal captive of Rome, Selene pledged her loyalty to Augustus and swore she would become his very own Cleopatra. Now the young queen faces an uncertain destiny in a foreign land.Forced to marry a man of the emperor’s choosing, Selene will not allow her new husband to rule in her name. She quickly establishes herself as a capable leader in her own right and as a religious icon. Beginning the hard work of building a new nation, she wins the love of her new subjects and makes herself vital to Rome by bringing forth bountiful harvests.
But it’s the magic of Isis flowing through her veins that makes her indispensable to the emperor. Against a backdrop of imperial politics and religious persecution, Cleopatra’s daughter beguiles her way to the very precipice of power. She has never forgotten her birthright, but will the price of her mother’s throne be more than she’s willing to pay?
From Berkley Trade October 2011 (Trade Paperback)
# ISBN-10: 0425243044
# ISBN-13: 9780425243046
A Q&A With Stephanie
What do you think of the recent slew of Roman movies like Centurion and television programs such as HBO’s Rome? Are they accurate?
I love almost any book, movie or television program set in antiquity. Some of them are more accurate than others. Some of them are more entertaining than others. I will confess to groaning aloud at egregious historical errors if there is no narrative reason for them, but ultimately, my love of the time period prevails. I celebrate any exploration of the ancient world because every attempt is bound to tell us as much about ourselves as it does about the ancients. (This does not mean, however, that I won’t throw popcorn at the television when someone tells me that the last survivor of Carthage is fighting in the arena against Spartacus! I’m looking at you, Starz TV.)
Your novel is a particularly
unsympathetic portrayal of Late Republic Rome. What do you have against the
Romans?
Song
of the Nile is told from the perspective of Cleopatra’s daughter, and
as a former prisoner of war, she’ll never be able to view the Romans with any
objectivity. However, I personally
have quite a soft spot for them. Oh, they were corrupt, brutal, xenophobic,
misogynistic and everything else that contemporaries accused them of. But they
were also a patriotic people who aspired to be a nation of laws that afforded
opportunity to people regardless of ethnicity. That the Romans so often fell
short of their ideals is not surprising, or unique; that they contributed so
much to the ultimate betterment of mankind is
unique and makes them worthy of admiration.
What about Augustus and his wife
Livia? You don’t seem to like them very much.
My feelings about the characters
in my novels don’t necessarily reflect my feelings about the historical figures
they resemble. Augustus and Livia may have been nobler figures in reality
than they are in my books. Because I’m telling Cleopatra Selene’s story, I
gleefully embraced all the scurrilous rumors surrounding Rome’s first emperor
and his wife. Augustus was a strange and ruthless leader, but he was also a
political genius. I could just as easily have written a book about him where he
appears as the hero, but other authors have done that. Besides, Augustus got to
to rule the world and shape propaganda to his liking, so I don’t feel
particularly guilty about using the criticism of him that managed to survive.
Livia, however, has been much maligned throughout history, and probably because
of her gender. I do
feel guilty in feeding that stereotype of her, but the caricature was too
delicious not to embrace.
Why do books about teenaged
vampires sell so much better than historical fiction novels?
I think it’s because historical
fiction novelists often fail to make their work sufficiently accessible to a
wide audience. Authors often worry more about the esteem of their colleagues
than they do about the enjoyment and educational opportunities they can provide
to their readers, and I think that’s a shame. See my essay, Historical Fiction Doesn’t Have to Be
Good for You. History is exciting. It’s
vibrant. It’s an alien landscape just as complicated as any supernatural world
ever envisioned. When writers treat it that way, I think readers respond.
Did you really major in Middle
Eastern Studies? Can you Speak Arabic?
No and no. I have a juris doctorate from
Northwestern School of Law. From Smith College, I earned a bachelor of arts in
Government with an English writing minor. However, in college, I also had the
opportunity to take a cluster of classes in Middle Eastern studies, including
history and religion. As it happens, I can’t read Latin or Arabic. My high school
Spanish teacher was never very impressed with me either. I’m apparently an
atrocious linguist, which is one of the many differences between me and Cleopatra
VII.Stephanie, we are so proud of you at UH. Good luck with Song of the Nile!
Leave your comment for a chance to win a free copy of Stephanie latest.
