Mara, Daughter of the Nile
Eloise McGraw
 Living in ancient Egypt, Mara is a slave under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut, living(or surviving) in Menfe. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. She also, oddly enough, has bright blue eyes. Struggling daily to find a way out of her wretched life as a slave Mara takes secret visits to the marketplace, behind her cruel master's back. On one such trip, Mara is observed by two men, Nahereh and Sheftu, who both note her intelligence. The first man, Nahereh, appears shortly afterwards to buy her from her master and offers Mara an escape from her life: if she will serve him and the Queen as a spy and accomplish her mission, he promises her riches and freedom, but death, if she is found out. Mara accepts the task and she spies for the queen. The second man, Sheftu, appears on a boat as she makes her way to the golden palace of pharaoh in Thebes to spy. He thinks that Mara is only a runaway slave, nothing else. He tells her that he will not turn her in as long as she will deliver a message to Thutmose and work for him as a messenger to carry plans for coming rebellion. Mara enjoys her life at court so much that she decides to play both sides. She carries messages for Sheftu and throws small bits of information to her new master, Lord Nahereh. But unwillingly she finds herself tangled more and more in her own web, as she discovers that she is falling in love with Sheftu (as he falls in love with her). When Sahure, a juggler at the Falcon Inn where the rebels meet, turns spy for the Queen's men, Mara is found out by both sides. Despite Sheftu's attempt to kill her, she returns to warn him and his followers of the raid that will go down at their meeting place. While waiting for her warning to be heeded, the soldiers of pharoh come. Mara waits in the shadows to make certain everyone escaped and to find her own chance at escaping, but is captured by the soldiers. She is taken to the palace for interrogation, but continues to claim not to know the leader, despite the harsh beating and the offers of freedom and riches. Sheftu has in the meantime heard of what has been going on, he tries to rescue her, but is identified as the leader of the rebellion by Sahure. But he has been working well the last years and by now most of the priests, the nobles and the entire army are on his side and storm the palace. The rebellion is successful, Hatshepsut is allowed to die by her own hand by ingesting poison provided by Thutmose, and Mara and Sheftu end happily coupled.