Book Giveaway: Autographed copy of Cleopatra's Daughter

** this contest is closed **

Soon to be released (Sept 15th) is the brillant new book: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran.

I haven't had a chance to personally read the book, but Michelle was gracious to grant me some Q&A, AND to offer one of my reader's an autographed copy!

Publishers Weekly reviewed the book and here's what they said: "Moran's latest foray into the world of classical historycenters upon the children of Marc Antony and Cleopatra . After the death of their parents, twins Alexander and Selene and younger brother Ptolemy are in a dangerous position, left to the mercy of their father's greatest rival, Octavian Caesar. However, Caesar does not kill them as expected, but takes the trio to Rome to be paraded as part of his triumphant return and to demonstrate his solidified power. As the twins adapt to life in Rome in the inner circle of Caesar's family, they grow into adulthood ensconced in a web of secrecy, intrigue and constant danger. Told from Selene's perspective, the tale draws readers into the fascinating world of ancient Rome and into the court of Rome's first and most famous emperor. Deftly encompassing enough political history to provide context, Moran never clutters her narrative with extraneous facts. A solid installment from a talented name in the genre."

Questions and Answers to Michelle Moran:

Q.Why Cleopatra’s daughter?

A. It began with a dive. Not the kind of dive that people take into swimming pools, but the kind where you squeeze yourself into a wetsuit and wonder just how tasty your rump must appear to passing sharks now that it looks exactly like an elephant seal. My husband and I had taken a trip to Egypt, and we decided to go to Alexandria and do a dive to see the remains of Cleopatra’s underwater city. Let it be known that I had never done an underwater dive before, so there were four days of countless questions like, Will there be sharks? If there is an earthquake, what happens underwater?,before the real thing.

We drove to the Eastern Harbor in Alexandria. We did the dive, and it was every bit as magical as everyone had promised. You can see the rocks which once formed Marc Antony’s summer palace, come face to face with Cleopatra’s towering sphinx, and take your time floating above ten thousand ancient artifacts, including obelisks, statues, and countless amphorae. By the time we had surfaced, I was Cleopatra-obsessed. I wanted to know what had happened to her city once she and Marc Antony had committed suicide. Where did all of its people go? Were they allowed to remain or were they killed by the Romans? What about her four children?

It was this last question which surprised me the most. I had always believed that all of Cleopatra’s children had been murdered. As soon as I learned that Octavian had taken the three of them for his Triumph in Rome, I knew at once I had my next book. This is how all of my novels seem to begin – with a journey, then an adventure, and finally, enormous amounts of research for what I hope is an exciting story.

Q: In all three of your novels, your narrators have been teenage girls. Is there are reason for this?
A: Actually, yes. I like to begin my novels during the time of greatest transition in a person’s life. And in the ancient world, the greatest transition in a woman’s life was often the time when she was married. Because women married at much younger ages two thousand years ago (twelve years old was not uncommon), my narrators have all been very young girls. In fact, Random House will be making a concerted effort to market Cleopatra's Daughter to young adults as well as adults. However, as my novels progress through time (my next book, for example, will be about Madame Tussaud), my narrators will be older.

Q: In the novel, Cleopatra leaves her children with Octavian before she commits suicide. Why would she have done this?
A: Cleopatra knew that her children would stand a better chance of survival if they were given to Octavian directly. He had already slaughtered her eldest son Caesarion, but the twins were so young that to kill them would have seemed merciless, and she knew that the Romans would have derided him for a child-killer. Historically, they probably stood their only chance of survival with him. Remember the old saying, Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

Learn more here: http://cleopatrasdaughter.com/

Now onto what you've been waiting for!

Giveaway:

One winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of Cleopatra's Daughter , courtesy of Michelle Moran!

Main entry (must be done FIRST):

Go to Michelle's blog, http://michellemoran.blogspot.com/ or website http://cleopatrasdaughter.com/and tell me the title of one of Michelle's other books, that isn't the giveaway item! Make sure I have an e-mail address, with your comment, so I can contact you, if you win! If I don't have a way to contact you, you will not be eligible to win!

Open to anyone in the world!

Extra Entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):

- Subscribe to the blog (1 entry)
- Follow this blog (1 entry)
- Put the "Welcome to Fall Ya'll" Button on your blog or website (2 entries)
- Follow me on Twitter AND tweet about this contest (2 entries)
- Blog about this giveaway (3 entries)

NOTE: there will be a Cleopatra related jewelry giveaway later in the "Welcome to Fall Ya'll" Giveaway Bonanza- if you've entered this contest, you get an extra entry to the jewelry contest later!

Contest will end on September 10th at midnight. Winner will be picked by Random Number (random.org) on September 11th, and emailed. As soon as winner's info is received from winner, it will be forwarded to the author herself, and then she will be mailing the book directly to the winner!

Have fun entering!

You're gonna LOVE this book!