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Author: Casati, Costanza

Myth & legend told as fiction

Published on 4 July 2024 by Penguin Books Ltd (Michael Joseph Ltd) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 432 pages
224 x 145 x 35 | 544g

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERA CAPTIVATING TALE THAT CHARTS THE CONTROVERSIAL LIFE AND RISE TO POWER OF SEMIRAMIS, THE ONLY FEMALE RULER OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE ‘Costanza Casati has taken the fragments of stories about this extraordinary woman and recreated her world with a vivid panache’ THE TIMES‘A stirring, addictive and intoxicating tale. . . Casati’s Babylonia has cemented her as one of the most skilled and exciting writers of historical fiction’ BEA FITZGERALD, author of GIRL, GODDESS, QUEEN’An astounding achievement, one of the most vivid, powerful works of historical fiction I have ever read. . . I was utterly swept up in the world of this novel’ ELODIE HARPER, author of THE WOLF DEN—-There are whispers of her fame, in the land long since turned to dust. The Queen who rose from nothing – and changed everything . . .

Ancient Assyria, 9th century BC.

An orphan is raised on the outskirts of a brutal empire. Heir to a tragic prophecy, Semiramis dreams of wielding power and escaping her destiny.

Far away, a reluctant prince walks the corridors of his gilded palace in a city built by the gods. Ninus would rather spend his days in books and poetry than conquering the world of men. But when he meets Onnes, a broken, beautiful warrior, something awakens in them both. And as they grow into young men, their friendship deepens into something fiercer still.

That is until Semiramis arrives.

A savage love soon erupts between them all, even as a dark threat to the kingdom mounts. And before long, all three will be forced to learn the lesson of the gods – in Babylonia, you must bend the world to your will.

What doesn’t bend, you break.

—-‘Reading Babylonia is like reading an enchantment on the page, in which the unfathomable heroines of legend and history become living people’ ANNIE GARTHWAITE, author of CecilyPRAISE FOR CLYTEMNESTRA’Vivid with fury, passion and strength, this is a fabulous myth retelling’ JENNIFER SAINT’A blaze of a novel, fiery and furious – and alight with murderous revenge’ DAILY MAIL’A powerhouse of a novel. Clytemnestra’s rage, heartbreak and determination radiate off the page’ ELODIE HARPER’A thrilling tale of power and prophecies, and the fierce Queen who fought back at those who wronged her’ COSMOPOLITANInstant Sunday Times bestseller, July 2024