Cleopatra’s Sister - Penelope Lively

Very little is known about the past of Callimbia, although Cleopatra’s more beautiful sister Berenice is said to have entertained Antony there, and, had he stayed, history could have turned out very differently.

Howard Beamish, a palacontologist whose only passion is for fossils, knows little of this obscure country. Lucy Faulkner, a journalist with a righteous indignation about British injustices, is a little better informed. She, at least, is aware that there is political unrest in the North African state. They both have their own reasons for travelling to Nairobi but neither expects to be set down in Callimbia’s capital, Marsopolis, embroiled in the revolution that will change their lives.