Valley of the Kings
A Novel of Tutankhamun
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- £10.99
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
An enthralling fictional account of Howard Carter’s famous search for the tomb of King Tut and the mystery behind the tragic death and disappearance of ancient Egypt’s child ruler
In ancient times, a boy king occupied the throne in a troubled desert land. His name was Tutankhamun. Both his reign and his life were shockingly brief, and his burial place was unknown—mysteries that would intrigue the inquisitive for centuries to come.
An English archaeologist irresistibly drawn to Egypt and her secrets, Howard Carter arrives in the Middle East in the second decade of the twentieth century to uncover the hidden final resting place of the tragic child pharaoh. But from the outset his search is plagued by misfortune and obstruction—a corrupt and unbending Egyptian bureaucracy, a British lord and patron more interested in profit than in knowledge, and Carter’s own inability to connect with his fellow human beings. Still, he will not be deterred from his obsessive hunt for the answer to one of the most astonishing puzzles in the history of the world.
In her magnificent novel Valley of the Kings, Cecelia Holland has created two worlds, brilliantly re-creating Egypt in the 1920s and in the time of Tutankhamun. A stunning tale of determination and discovery, brimming with color, mystery, and life, it confirms her standing as one of the true masters of historical fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
First published in 1977 under the pseudonym of Elizabeth Eliot Carter, this uneven historical displays Holland's great talents, but in embryo form. The first--and better half--of the novel is narrated by a fictionalized Howard Carter, the Englishman who discovered Tut's tomb in 1922. Holland does an excellent job of rendering Carter's strained relationship with his upper-crust patron, Lord Carnarvon, while surrounded by obtuse British bureaucrats, archeologists more interested in treasure than history and a culture that Carter loves despite its otherness. Stiff and intellectually arrogant, the Carter portrayed here relates better to artifacts than to living humans, a trait that costs him a yearned-for relationship with the daughter of his partner and that proves to be his tragic flaw. The second half of the book flashes back to the ancient Egypt of Tut and concerns three common Egyptians--a mason, a beggar and a maid--who are variously damaged and nurtured by the royals, who have their own problems. Holland ably conjures up the sensuous but harsh culture of Tut's Egypt, but her ancient past lacks the vitality of her early 20th century. Even so, this is a must for Holland fans and solid fare for everyone else. FYI: In a prefatory note, Holland reveals that this novel was inspired by a conversation she enjoyed with Lord Carnarvon's son.
