It was a time of religious and political upheaval—the heretic Pharaoh Akhenten's religious reforms had been defeated by the power of the Priests of Amun, and the young boy King, Tutankhamun, had been placed on the throne. There was a famine in the land, and ongoing deadly intrigue in the Court as different factions maneuvered to gain control of Egypt. It ended in the mysterious death of the young king, and his hasty, secret burial. Nearly thirty-five hundred years later, in the 1920s, a young British archaeologist named Howard Carter becomes obsessed with finding Tutankamun's tomb. But he must struggle with more than the secretive nature of the ancient Egyptians—his world cannot go on without the approval of the modern Egyptian bureaucracy or without continued financial support from the British peer who is looking for treasure more than knowledge.
Author
Pen name used by Elizabeth Eliot Carter. Cecelia Holland is one of the world's most highly acclaimed and respected historical novelists, ranked by many alongside other giants in that field such as Mary Renault and Larry McMurtry. Over the span of her thirty year career, she's written almost thirty historical novels, including The Firedrake, Rakessy, Two Ravens, Ghost on the Steppe, Death of Attila, Hammer For Princes, The King's Road, Pillar of the Sky, The Lords of Vaumartin, Pacific Street, Sea Beggars, The Earl, The King in Winter, The Belt of Gold, The Serpent Dreamer, The High City, Kings of the North, and a series of fantasy novels, including The Soul Thief, The Witches Kitchen, The Serpent Dreamer, and Varanger. She also wrote the well-known science fiction novel Floating Worlds, which was nominated for a Locus Award in 1975. Her most recent book is a new fantasy novel, Dragon Heart.
