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Tutankhamun Uncovered: The Adventure Behind the Curse

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TUTANKHAMUN UNCOVERED: The Adventure Behind the Curse

By

Michael J. Marfleet


I invariably approach novels set in ancient Egypt with some trepidation. I suspect that this is because too much knowledge about ancient Egypt can get in the way when inaccuracies or distortions of known or accepted historical events and characters are incorporated into a story.

This is a novel set towards the end of the reign of Tutankhamun, including his death, burial and events around this time, involving well known historical figures. As AE readers will no doubt know, there is more than enough potential for a good story when writing about this period, and equally plenty of scope for fanciful interpretation of the limited known facts. This is also a story that has been told in novels many times before, and indeed to some extent in works of non-fiction too.

This book is, however, more complex than that, for there is another tale to be told, that of the young Howard Carter and his work in Egypt, his partnership with Lord Carnarvon and the ultimate discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. The two stories are told in parallel and gradually converge into one story. I can say that I really enjoyed this book much more than I expected and I suspect that this is down to what must have been considerable and painstaking research on the part of the author.

When writing a novel about Tutankhamun, any author has to take almost a black-and-white stance about things such as who was related to whom, and what happened and when ... there is no room for the words 'probably' or 'possibly' that one finds (or should find) in non-fiction accounts. The author has taken the known facts and woven a very plausible and believable story around them, with nothing that overly jarred or conflicted with my reasonable knowledge of the period. In fact the benefit of its being a novel actually means that some parts of the story can actually be told far better than in a simple list of known facts. I especially liked the wonderful description of Tutankhamun's funeral with the tomb being filled slowly with all the treasures we know so well today.

I think it is the Carter and Carnarvon part of the story that was the most enlightening. There are several biographies of Carter, but some biographies can be heavy going at times. Here, Carter and Carnarvon are given voices and very believable ones too. The account of Carter's famous falling out with some French visitors at Saqqara is a delight to read and is probably the closest one will ever get to what actually happened. This is much better than reading a biography and Carter's complex and intriguing personality comes across particularly well, when he is given a voice of his own. Lord Carnarvon is also revealed as much more than just the rich sponsor in the background.

The account of the events surrounding the life of Tutankhamun are, in my opinion, as good a fictional interpretation as one might wish to find as is the parallel story of Carter and Carnarvon. Unlike when reading most other novels set in Egypt, the 'Egyptology' part of my brain was surprisingly inactive and did not disturb my enjoyment of the unfolding story at all.

It is a story of the ancient Egyptian's fascination and preoccupation with death and the Afterlife and of two Englishmen, very much alive and preoccupied by death too, insofar as it let them into the ancient Egyptian world and that of Tutankhamun and his queen in particular. Add just a little twist of the supernatural and a dash of 'the curse of the mummy' (but neither overdone) and you have all the ingredients for a really good read, which is exactly what this book is.

Bob Partridge, Editor, Ancient Egypt Magazine - [...]