So my mother got a hold Ms. Moran's books and loved them! She's wants Cleopatra's Daughter to which I said, mother it isnt not out yet. Well she got huffy with me like its my fault.
Anyway, she has always loved Egypt and she likes HF too (though not as much as me) Can anyone suggest a good HF book that takes place in Egypt?
Thanks
Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Help! Need good HF book on Egypt
Help! Need good HF book on Egypt
Last edited by Divia on Sun November 30th, 2008, 4:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/
- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
There's a whole section for books set in Ancient Egypt at my historical fiction website, here. Novelists whose writing styles are probably most similar to Michelle Moran's would include Karen Essex (Kleopatra) and Pauline Gedge (Child of the Morning is about Hatshepsut and looks pretty interesting).
I'd stay away from Naguib Mahfouz's Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, even though he's a Nobel prizewinner. It's in the form of interviews by someone curious about the truth after Akhenaten's death, and I found it so dry I didn't finish it. Sometime I'll try one of his novels set in early 20th century Cairo, instead - those are listed on the Africa page.
I'd stay away from Naguib Mahfouz's Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, even though he's a Nobel prizewinner. It's in the form of interviews by someone curious about the truth after Akhenaten's death, and I found it so dry I didn't finish it. Sometime I'll try one of his novels set in early 20th century Cairo, instead - those are listed on the Africa page.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
Kleopatra seems awful expensive for a paperback book! Still, it is what she's looking for. Maybe I'll pick up a used copy.
Thanks.
Thanks.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the heads up on Child of the Morning, Margaret. After discovering that I am Hatshepsut ('What historical queen are you?' quiz), I'd like to know more about her story. Gedge's novel sounds fairly good per the Amazon reviews so I'll go for it. I've never read Gedge before.
I'm currently reading Michelle's Nefertiti and loving it, so I'm kinda mirroring Divia's mother in the search for a bit more Egypt.
I'm currently reading Michelle's Nefertiti and loving it, so I'm kinda mirroring Divia's mother in the search for a bit more Egypt.
Out of all of the various books on Egypt, my favourite HF writer on the topic remains Pauline Gedge. I've yet to read a truly bad novel by her, and she has taken some of the more unusual stories and times from then to write about.
Some of her titles:
Child of the Morning (Hatshepsut)
The Twelfth Transforming (Tiye, Akhenaten and the rest)
Mirage (also published as the Scroll of Saqqara) (Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II)
The Hippopotamus Marsh, The Oasis, The Horus Road -- a trilogy about the start of the 18th Dynasty
Lady of the Reeds and House of Illusion -- the Harem Conspiracy of Ramses III, very romanticised.
The Twice Born and Seer of Egypt
Some of her titles:
Child of the Morning (Hatshepsut)
The Twelfth Transforming (Tiye, Akhenaten and the rest)
Mirage (also published as the Scroll of Saqqara) (Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II)
The Hippopotamus Marsh, The Oasis, The Horus Road -- a trilogy about the start of the 18th Dynasty
Lady of the Reeds and House of Illusion -- the Harem Conspiracy of Ramses III, very romanticised.
The Twice Born and Seer of Egypt
- Margaret
- Bibliomaniac
- Posts: 2440
- Joined: August 2008
- Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
- Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
- Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
- Location: Catskill, New York, USA
- Contact:
Hatshepsut was really interesting. She was the most successful and longest-reigning woman pharaoh - there were two or three others who didn't reign very long. I've always been rather taken with the detail that she wore a fake beard as one of the symbols of her power. After her reign (as with Akhenaten) references to her on Egyptian monuments and temples were defaced as if to expunge her from the historical record. Wikipedia has an interesting entry about her here.
Last edited by Margaret on Mon December 1st, 2008, 5:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info
Oldies mentioned before:
The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
Prince of Egypt (the likely basis for the screenplay of Heston's 10 Commandments) -- I have forgotten the author's name, but her first might be Gladys.
For controversial non-fiction books I recommend:
Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud
Oedipus and Akhnaton by Immanuel Velikovsky.
The Egyptian by Mika Waltari
Prince of Egypt (the likely basis for the screenplay of Heston's 10 Commandments) -- I have forgotten the author's name, but her first might be Gladys.
For controversial non-fiction books I recommend:
Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud
Oedipus and Akhnaton by Immanuel Velikovsky.
Bodo the Apostate, a novel set during the reign of Louis the Pious and end of the Carolingian Empire.
http://www.donaldmichaelplatt.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZthhY6 ... annel_page
If you want to remind her in the spring, Jo Graham's Daugthers of Isis comes out in March (IIRC). Her novel, Black Ships, might be of interest, too. It's billed as historical fantasy, but almost straight-forward historical, about the Sibyl who journeys with Aeneas after he escapes from Troy. They have a stop-over in Egypt which actually makes it topical.
Gedge has come highly recommended to me. I have one of her books in the TBR, so I hope to read her at some point when I'm in the mood to return to Ancient Egypt.
Gedge has come highly recommended to me. I have one of her books in the TBR, so I hope to read her at some point when I'm in the mood to return to Ancient Egypt.