Winston Churchill and the Treasure of Mapungubwe Hill
A Novel
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Only the past can save the future for Winston Churchill, and it’s a past with many secrets.
There is vast treasure hidden in an almost impregnable Central African fortress surrounded by cliffs. The mountain is a honeycomb of ancient tombs and palaces, as well as the ancient burial place of a Nubian queen mysteriously wedded to a Roman. Young Winston Churchill, a prisoner during the Boer War, is offered a secret deal for freedom by Britain’s enemy Louis Botha: with Botha’s agent, Zeila, Winston must seek out and protect the greatest secret of the dark continent, a fabulous Nubian treasure known only as Mapungubwe Hill.
But a rogue member of the British royal family, Lord Sterne, is also after the treasure. Can Winston and the lovely Zeila both survive being entombed? And will their relationship go further than their mission?
Decades later, in the middle of a raging World War II, Winston’s special agent Martin Rand struggles to unlock Mapungubwe’s secrets again before German forces, lead by Nazi-sympathizer Lord Sterne, can overwhelm and capture it. Will Winston prevail over the Nazis, or will the Nubian warriors take matters into their own hands? And will Winston’s secret tryst with Zeila come back to ruin everything?
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PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Angus (London Underground) offers an ill-conceived homage to the "Dark Continent" yarns of a century ago with this adventure tale featuring the young Winston Churchill. In 1899, the future prime minister, while reporting on the Boer war, is captured by Afrikaner forces. Chafing at captivity, he leaps on Boer leader Louis Botha's offer: accompany Botha's alluring agent Zeila and avaricious British ally Lord Sterne to the recently discovered labyrinth of tombs and palaces at imposing Mapungubwe Hill. In addition to precious gold, the complex contains new evidence of contact between ancient Rome and Nubia. The expedition proves but the first move in a long, deadly game between Churchill and Sterne that only ends following WWII. Angus's elaborate plotting fails to distract, unfortunately, from the characters' period-appropriate but discomfiting racial attitudes. At the end of the day, this genre homage reads more like a Dan Brown pastiche of H. Rider Haggard than the real thing.