The eldest was born in the season of planting, when the waters of the Nile had receded once more and the land lay rich and fertile, warm and muddy and waiting for the sun to quicken everything to life. She was born in one of the small rooms behind the Court of Birds, and her mother was a serving woman who cooked and cleaned, but who one day had caught Ptolemy Auletes’ eye. Her skin was honey, her eyes dark as the rich floodwaters. Her name was Iras.
The second sister was born under the clear stars of winter, while the land greened and grain ripened in the fields, when fig and peach trees nodded laden in the starry night. She was born in a great bedchamber with wide windows open to the sea, and five Greek physicians in attendance, for she was the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes’ queen, and her name was Cleopatra.
The youngest sister was born as the earth died, as the stubble of the harvest withered in the fields beneath the scorching sun. She was born beside the fountain in the Court of Birds, because her mother was a blond slave girl from Thrace, and that was where her pains took her. Water fell from the sky and misted her upturned face. Her hair was the color of tarnished bronze, and her eyes were blue as the endless Egyptian sky. Her name was Charmian.
Once, in a palace by the sea, there were three sisters. All the stories begin so.
The Hand of Isis is a historical fantasy by Jo Graham, and easily one of the best books I have read this year. The book follows Charmian, Cleopatra’s handmaiden and half sister, as she helps Cleopatra navigate the political turmoil as she becomes the Queen of Egypt.
Being a self professed Classics nerd, I knew that after reading Black Ships I was obligated to read anything else that Ms. Graham decided to write. The Hand of Isis eclipses all other historical fantasies I have read to date.
In The Hand, the veil between mortals and the divine is very thin, and the book begins with Charmian in the Halls of Amenti, telling her story to Serapis and Isis before her heart is weighed against a feather. Thus the book switches between third and first person, always coming back to where Charmian stands in judgment.
Charmian and her half sister Iras were born of different slaves, and Charmian’s mother died in childbirth. Thus Iras’ mother raised them both, and when they begin taking lessons with Cleopatra to keep her company, they become a triumvirate, each a face of Isis: Cleopatra, mother of the World with Horus at her breast, Iras as the Lady of Amenti, and Charmian as Isis Pelagia, the Goddess of Love. Thus with their individual strengths they secure a kingdom for Cleopatra, the embodiment of Isis on earth.
