Category: Fiction
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
ISBN-13:9780307381743
Pub. Date: May 2008 (reprint)
Date Read: June 2008
“On the morning of Nefertiti’s marriage and coronation, rumors began spreading in the palace that a beauty never before seen in Egypt had descended on Thebes and would become the queen.”
Told from the perspective of Nefertiti’s half-sister Mutnodjmet (or Mutny), this story transports the reader to Egypt 1351 B.C. There is a young new pharaoh, Amunhotep, who is threatening the stability of the kingdom.
Amunhotep is rumored to have killed his brother so that he could ascend to the throne. He already has a wife, Kiya, but it his second wife Nefertiti with whom he shares his visions for a new Egypt. He wants to abandon the worship of the old gods in favor of Aten, a deity of his own creation and ultimately the couple wants to be known as the builders of Egypt.
Against their advisers, Amunhotep and Nefertiti move the capital to a desert, have their likenesses immortalized in stone and ignore the tensions that are brewing among the army and neighboring nations. Through all of this Mutny is always there for Nefertiti even at the expense of her own happiness.
Mutny doesn’t always agree with her sister but she loves her and will always bend to Nefertiti’s will. Despite Nefertiti being the title character, the reader gets to know the strength and compassion of Mutny and perhaps finally getting the credit she deserved for her role in Nefertiti’s life.
Author Moran brings to life a willful Queen and an unstable pharaoh in what is an exciting story filled with vivid details of court life, descriptions of dress and traditions. This is a fascinating story and thoroughly engaging read.