Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

Daughter of Egypt (St. Martin’s Press, March of 2026, 352 pages) by Marie Benedict is my 9th or 10th book by this former lawyer from Pittsburgh whose given name is Heather Terrell. Benedict takes a woman from history and brings her to life like no one else can. When I saw this work of historical fiction being offered as an ARC on NetGalley I immediately requested it. I’m so glad I did.

For as long as I can remember I have had a minor (subjective term here) obsession with Egypt and the pharaohs. Visiting the Valley of Kings is still high up on my bucket list of travel locations. I’m not sure I will get there, though, as my hyper-cautious husband has deemed it a bit out of his comfort zone.

In the mid 1970s it was announced that a traveling exhibit of some of the artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamen would make a stop in New Orleans, conveniently located half way between my college town and my home town.

The details on my visit are somewhat fuzzy in my memories. Until I researched the dates of the 6 state traveling exhibit, I had in my mind that I visited the King Tut exhibit while still in middle school, with a clear memory of my father picking me up one afternoon from school and taking me to New Orleans to see the exhibit. But, after some research, I now know that the New Orleans stop was from September of 1977 to January of 1978, and I most decidedly was in college during that time period. I have the souvenir book from the visit, so I know I went, but with whom and by what means of transportation (I did not yet own a car) is blank.

While not recalling the specifics of how I got there, I recall with extreme vividness the feeling I had gazing upon the gold and alabaster pieces of art that had been unearthed in November of 1922 by British Egyptologist Howard Carter and his patron Sir George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnavon, a/k/a the real Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey fame.

All six seasons and three movies of the PBS series Downton Abbey were filmed on location at Lord Carnavon’s family home (a misnomer if ever there was one) Highclere Castle. It has been said that Downton Abbey saved Highclere as the costs for ongoing maintenance and repairs had nearly bankrupted the family fortune. Visiting Highclere Castle is also high on my travel list, one that I am pretty sure I will get to.

It is interesting to note here that my husband (unknown to me at the time and from a different part of the state) also visited this exhibit and also brought home the souvenir book, and somehow, nearly 50 years later, we still have both of our books.

Enough about me and my obsession with ancient Egypt! Back to the reason for this essay, a review of the soon to be published Daughter of Egypt by Marie Benedict.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a dual narrative told alternating between Lord Carnavon’s daughter Lady Evelyn Herbert’s point of view beginning in 1919 and Hatshepsut’s point of view beginning in 1486 BC. Unknown to me when I began this book, Hatshepsut was one of the very few female pharaohs to have ruled Egypt.

Eve’s father, Lord Carnavon, usually referred to as Porchey by friends and family, a nickname stemming from his courtesy title of Lord Porchester, was, like me, obsessed with Egyptology and the pharaohs, the difference being that he was extremely wealthy (through his inheritance of Highclere Castle and his wife’s inheritance from her father Alfred de Rothschild) and could fund annual archeological digs in the Valley of Kings. As the money begins to run out (a situation that continued to repeat itself throughout history in many aristocratic homes in England), Lord Carnavon agrees reluctantly to one last dig in 1922. It is a compromise of sorts as Howard Carter funds this dig himself in the event nothing of note is discovered.

It is during this last dig, as Egypt’s mounting quest for independence continues to grow and threaten the government approved British excavations, that Howard Carter finally finds the tomb of Tutankhamen. Lord Carnavon and Lady Evelyn are both present at the opening of the chamber door, and this is recounted with great suspense in Benedict’s novel. The politics of the time prohibit Lord Carnavon from financially recouping his losses from previous digs, but some of the spoils of the discovery do end up in England, both in Carnavon’s possession as well as Carter’s.

The dual narration of Benedict’s book is done very well, as we watch side by side two young women, separated by over 3,400 years, fight for their rightful place in society, strive to achieve goals they have set for themselves, and live and love as they wish.

Eve has longed to find the tomb of Hatshepsut, and her continued trips to Egypt with her father and Howard Carter are constantly threatened by her mother’s social aspirations of finding Eve a husband of proper social standing. It is only through a brief and infrequent stroke of luck that Eve finds her own perfect mate, one that her mother approves of.

Hatshepsut has to fight the same social and political mores of her time period, where a female pharaoh is all but unheard of. She is a princess, daughter of a pharaoh, half-sister of a future pharaoh, and finally aunt and step-mother of the next pharaoh with whom she co-reigned. When her half-brother/husband dies prematurely, she is forbidden from ever marrying again, or even having a romantic relationship with anyone as no one would be of the same royal status and therefore, unsuitable.

This book sent me down many a rabbit hole researching first Lady Evelyn and her husband Sir Brograve Beauchamp, followed by Hatshepsut and the various Thutmose rulers she was related to both by blood and marriage, and Senenmut, the royal servant who in Benedict’s novel became her steadfast mate for life.

This book will join some of my other favorite Benedict novels: The Personal Librarian, Carnegie’s Maid, and Lady Clementine. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this interesting read.