Cleopatra: A Novel

Cleopatra reflects on three productive years ruling Egypt, during which she opened hospitals, expanded the library, and strengthened political alliances. Antonius, stationed in the east and married to Octavia, does not returned once. When Cleopatra learns Octavia has borne him a daughter, she burns his letter and takes lovers to her bed, angry at his prolonged absence.

Late one night, Charmion finds Cleopatra writing a letter to end her relationship with Antonius and alliance with Rome. She says Antonius has summoned her to Antioch, but she refuses to be summoned. Her daughter, Selene, wakes and recognizes her father’s seal, kissing the silver moon necklace he sent her. Moved by Selene’s longing for a father she has never met, Cleopatra destroys the goodbye letter and decides to travel to Antioch.

She leaves 11-year-old Caesarion to rule with Faunus’s support and sails to Antioch with the twins. Disguised as a commoner, she ventures into the city and encounters a storyteller spreading Octavian’s propaganda—tales portraying her as a murderous, sexually voracious tyrant. Enraged by stories about her children, she considers killing the storyteller but realizes it would validate his narrative. She recognizes that Octavian has built a mythic version of her, divorced from truth.