Cecelia Holland

I found Valley of the Kings by Cecelia Holland to be a rather odd combination of two stories. Originally published in 1977 under a pseudonym the novel is divided into two distinct parts. The first part, and in my opinion, the better part is the story of Howard Carter, the Englishman who discovered King Tut’s tomb in 1922. The second half of the book travels back in time to ancient Egypt under the rule of Tut.

I was fascinated to read about Howard Carter, his relationship with Lord Carnavron, and the devious way he had to circumvent the British bureaucrats and officials in order to dig where he wanted. Many of the archaeologists of that time were much more interested in treasure hunting than in learning the history and culture of ancient Egypt and although Carter was rather stiff and self-righteous, he was definitely not in it for the treasure. When the story abruptly changed and jumped back in time, I was disappointed as I wanted to learn more about Carter and how the tomb was excavated. The second story takes us back in time and is set during King Tut’s reign. I found this overdone and rather silly and in the end I was left wishing the author had simply written about Howard Carter.

Cecelia Holland is the author of many very good historical novels, unfortunately this isn’t one of them.… (altro)