During the early 1920s, Egypt was just one more of the British Empire’s nations trying to achieve independence. The polite title of a protectorate, instead of a colony, was bestowed, and archaeologists continued the work that had been interrupted by the Great War. DAUGHTER OF EGYPT takes up at this point, a sweeping tale full of uneasy murmurings against the British and the export of antiquities.

Best known for the later discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle and Howard Carter are at this point returning to their shared dig sites and hiring workers. They have found minor tombs and various treasures. Eager young Lady Evelyn Herbert, Carnarvon’s daughter, is determined to join them; her stern mama is equally determined to keep her daughter in polite company and try to find her a match.

Hatshepsut, a young woman descended from the pharaonic line, tells us her story in ancient times. As the sole heir to the throne of Upper and Lower Egypt, she has to marry and rule with her husband, and only a close family relative will do. Later, she rules alongside her daughter and that little girl’s planned husband. Jealous mothers want their child to rule, and factions quickly develop. Hatshepsut, achieving an unheard-of status, had many decisions to make and was apparently a wise and kind ruler, fostering trade. Why, then, was the order to obliterate carvings about her reign given after her death? Evelyn has been piecing together the tale and hopes to find answers, maybe even the queen’s tomb.  

Marie Benedict specialises in providing the tales of women behind the headlines. A previous book, Carnegie’s Maid, looked at Andrew Carnegie and the family’s Irish maid, who may have influenced the millionaire towards philanthropy. Not just the unusual female Egyptian ruler but the female archaeologist, taught by her associates to study maps and hieroglyphics, and a veteran of hard physical work of excavations, help us to realise that history is about many women whose names we don’t hear. At one time, it was not considered appropriate to put women in newspaper stories, exposing them to gossip. Evelyn also didn’t have the wherewithal to finance a dig, the cost of which almost bankrupted her father.

Plenty of local politics and characters appear, adding stability to the structure of the dual time frame. DAUGHTER OF EGYPT is well worth a read for fans of historical fiction.