Daughter of Egypt

Benedict’s immersive latest (after The Queens of Crime) weaves the stories of an ancient Egyptian ruler and the Englishwoman obsessed with finding her tomb. In 1919, George Herbert, also known as Lord Carnarvon, and Egyptologist Howard Carter resume their excavation of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, which they’d begun in 1907 and put on hold during WWI. Carnarvon’s 18-year-old daughter, Eve, resists her mother’s insistence that she focus on marrying well and instead learns Egyptian history and archaeology from Carter, who supports her desire to discover traces of Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s few female pharaohs. Eve joins the excavation team in 1920, but Carnarvon calls a halt to their work when they’ve failed to turn up anything significant by 1922. Eve persuades him to invest in one more digging season, which, though it yields no sign of Hatshepsut, discovers Tutankhamun’s tomb. A parallel narrative opens in 1486 BC with Hatshepsut as a young princess. In 1479, after Hatshepsut’s husband dies, she fears for the kingdom’s stability and defies tradition by adopting a male pharaoh’s garb and powers. Hatshepsut’s narration feels a bit stiff (“I tell myself to be grateful for the power I have—most women have none”), but Benedict evokes the excitement of archaeology in colonial Egypt with an abundance of lush details. There’s plenty to enjoy in this story of two women defying expectations. Agent: Laura Dail, Laura Dail Literary. (Mar.)