About five years ago, I started writing my first book, a novel about Hatshepsut. (Read: A novel about Egypt’s kick-ass female pharaoh who I absolutely idolize and would totally stalk if she were still alive.) 

It took me two years to finish writing the book and another year to revise it. Then I spent a year in the query trenches. For a long time I wondered if this book, my absolute baby, would ever see the light of day. 

Then I found an agent and an editor who loved not only Theodora’s story, but also Hatshepsut’s. It’s taken me a long time to wrap my mind around the fact that this baby of mine is going to be published and that people will be able to read about Hatshepsut’s amazing life. 

And now, without further ado…

Here’s the stunning cover of DAUGHTER OF THE GODS!

 (I love EVERYTHING about it, including the colors, the felucca, and the Valley of the Kings in the background!)

And from the back cover:

Egypt, 1400s BC. The pharaoh’s pampered second daughter, lively,
intelligent Hatshepsut, delights in racing her chariot through the
marketplace and testing her archery skills in the Nile’s marshlands. But
the death of her elder sister, Neferubity, in a gruesome accident
arising from Hatshepsut’s games forces her to confront her guilt…and
sets her on a profoundly changed course.

Hatshepsut enters a
loveless marriage with her half brother, Thut, to secure his claim to
the Isis Throne and produce a male heir. But it is another of Thut’s
wives, the commoner Aset, who bears him a son, while Hatshepsut develops
a searing attraction for his brilliant adviser Senenmut. And when Thut
suddenly dies, Hatshepsut becomes de facto ruler, as regent to her
two-year-old nephew.

Once, Hatshepsut anticipated being free to
live and love as she chose. Now she must put Egypt first. Ever daring,
she will lead a vast army and build great temples, but always she will
be torn between the demands of leadership and the desires of her heart.
And even as she makes her boldest move of all, her enemies will plot her
downfall….
Once again, Stephanie Thornton brings to life a
remarkable woman from the distant past whose willingness to defy
tradition changed the course of history.

YAY!