I received this book free of charge in return for an honest review. The book was nominated for the Commonwealth Writers Prize 2010, and in fact has won the Best Book of Africa. I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to do an author interview with Marie Heese about her book, which you can read here.
Book Details
Paperback
Pages: 376
Publisher: Human & Rousseau
Published: 2009
Language: English
ISBN: 978 0 7981 5036 1
Book Review
I was a little bit worried when I first discovered what this book was about - ancient history has never been something that I have ever had a particular interest in, but I was very happily surprised once I got stuck into this book.
The back cover states succinctly what this book is about:
"Set in ancient Egypt, this is the fascinating story of Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh who ruled over Upper and Lower Egypt for two decades around 1500 BC".
The story was cleverly written from the perspective of Hatshepsut through a collection of secret scrolls she has decided to write when her reign as Pharaoh of Egypt begins to be threatened by unknown forces. These scrolls record the current events in her reign as Pharaoh, as well as those that have occurred in the past, those that have bought her to where she is. I thought this was a very effective way of telling her story. It made it very personal and provided a direct insight into her experiences.
Hatshepsut entrusts these secret scrolls into the hands of her scribe Mahu, who is given the task of keeping them secure. Mahu, however, cannot overcome his own curiosity and breaks the King's seal to read her secret writings. The reader is then provided with a more objective perspective of the thoughts and experiences of Hateshepsut provided by Mahu's own commentary on her scrolls.
I was a bit nervous that reading the book would become a little like a history lesson, where the author did everything they could to make sure the reader knew all the little details of the research they did before writing the novel. Fortunately, The Double Crown didn't feel like that at all. Instead, the characters, the lifestyle, the rituals, the past times, to foods and the general realities of this time in history were bought to life.
The story went very smoothly between the past and the present whilst searching for answers to a true historical story. How did a woman come to be the Pharaoh? Why was reference to her reign as King deleted? Why were her monuments destroyed? The Double Crown provided fictional answers to these questions that were convincing and realistic. Not just because it considered the social and political realities that Hatshepsut would have experienced, but also because it looked at her from a personal perspective, depicting her rise to power and then slowly the loss of her children, close friends and true love.
The Double Crown is a wonderful title. At first glance it refers to the Double Crown that she wears as Pharaoh, declaring her the King of The Upper Lands and The Lower Lands. But I think that it is also a clever way of referring to the dual nature of many aspects of her life. Pharaoh vs individual. Man vs woman. Power vs loneliness. All these tensions are explored in this book.
The sex scenes were pretty cheesy I thought, and the end came very suddenly, but all in all this was a really wonderful and clever book.
Summary
What kind of read is this?
It is an easy read, and a quick one, but very interesting.
Do I recommend this book?
Yes, absolutely. It was really good and I would recommend it to people.
Do I recommend that you buy it?
Unless you have a very real interest in Egyptian history or ancient history in general, I think this is the kind of book that it would be sufficient enough to borrow from the library.
The story was cleverly written from the perspective of Hatshepsut through a collection of secret scrolls she has decided to write when her reign as Pharaoh of Egypt begins to be threatened by unknown forces. These scrolls record the current events in her reign as Pharaoh, as well as those that have occurred in the past, those that have bought her to where she is. I thought this was a very effective way of telling her story. It made it very personal and provided a direct insight into her experiences.
Hatshepsut entrusts these secret scrolls into the hands of her scribe Mahu, who is given the task of keeping them secure. Mahu, however, cannot overcome his own curiosity and breaks the King's seal to read her secret writings. The reader is then provided with a more objective perspective of the thoughts and experiences of Hateshepsut provided by Mahu's own commentary on her scrolls.
I was a bit nervous that reading the book would become a little like a history lesson, where the author did everything they could to make sure the reader knew all the little details of the research they did before writing the novel. Fortunately, The Double Crown didn't feel like that at all. Instead, the characters, the lifestyle, the rituals, the past times, to foods and the general realities of this time in history were bought to life.
The story went very smoothly between the past and the present whilst searching for answers to a true historical story. How did a woman come to be the Pharaoh? Why was reference to her reign as King deleted? Why were her monuments destroyed? The Double Crown provided fictional answers to these questions that were convincing and realistic. Not just because it considered the social and political realities that Hatshepsut would have experienced, but also because it looked at her from a personal perspective, depicting her rise to power and then slowly the loss of her children, close friends and true love.
The Double Crown is a wonderful title. At first glance it refers to the Double Crown that she wears as Pharaoh, declaring her the King of The Upper Lands and The Lower Lands. But I think that it is also a clever way of referring to the dual nature of many aspects of her life. Pharaoh vs individual. Man vs woman. Power vs loneliness. All these tensions are explored in this book.
The sex scenes were pretty cheesy I thought, and the end came very suddenly, but all in all this was a really wonderful and clever book.
Summary
What kind of read is this?
It is an easy read, and a quick one, but very interesting.
Do I recommend this book?
Yes, absolutely. It was really good and I would recommend it to people.
Do I recommend that you buy it?
Unless you have a very real interest in Egyptian history or ancient history in general, I think this is the kind of book that it would be sufficient enough to borrow from the library.
Star Rating
6 / 8
Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.
Originally posted 22 April 2010 Page Turners
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