Where the Queen Sleeps

For over two thousand years, one story has been told. In the heart of a conquered Egypt, Queen Cleopatra—the Serpent of the Nile—took her own life with the bite of an asp, her body and legendary tomb lost forever to the shifting sands of history. This is the official story. It is also the greatest lie ever told.

Dr. Eva Rostova is a brilliant archaeologist haunted by a radical theory. Ridiculed by the academic establishment, she is convinced that Cleopatra, a genius strategist and scientist, did not surrender to despair. She believes the queen engineered a masterful deception, creating a secret tomb and leaving behind a trail of intricate clues—a final, intellectual challenge to a future she knew would be shaped by her enemies. When Eva discovers an ancient cipher hidden in plain sight, she proves her theory is real, instantly making her the most dangerous woman in the world.

Now, she is being hunted. A powerful and shadowy cabal known as the Heritage Curators, a secret society of collectors who believe some truths are too dangerous for the public, will stop at nothing to possess the secret of the tomb. From the dusty dig sites of the Egyptian desert to the clandestine archives of Cairo, Eva is plunged into a deadly game of cat and mouse, where the prize is nothing less than the truth of our own history.

As Eva deciphers the queen’s final, ingenious puzzle, the narrative fractures, weaving between her own perilous modern-day quest and the gripping, tragic story of Cleopatra’s last ten days. To find the resting place of the queen, Eva must unravel the secrets of her death, and in doing so, she will discover that the most dangerous secrets are the ones that have never been written. She must succeed where Cleopatra could not—she must not only find the truth, she must bring it to the light.