Thoth: A Romance

Athens is dying. The plague that will eventually claim Pericles himself sweeps through the city, turning the Acropolis into a funeral pyre and leaving women particularly vulnerable to those who would profit from chaos. When mysterious Egyptian merchants arrive promising safety to beautiful maidens, young Daphne recognizes the wolves among them. But survival in plague-stricken Athens demands impossible choices, and soon she finds herself aboard a ship bound for a city no Greek has ever seen. What follows is a dark romance wrapped in ancient mystery: Thoth, the Egyptian leader with godlike ambitions, draws Daphne into his web of philosophical wonder and terrible purpose. She must navigate a world of pigmy worshippers and decipher whether Thoth's designs are salvation or something far more sinister. This is a haunting story of manipulation and unexpected tenderness, of a woman who refuses to be merely a pawn in a man's game of power and destiny.