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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Every time Gill Paul has a new book out I don’t even need to read the blurb as I know without a doubt I will love it. This was definitely the case with The Collector’s Daughter. The story of Lady Evelyn Herbert , the first woman to enter the tomb of Tutankhamun . I was totally enthralled by this book of both fact and fiction and it was an absolute joy to read
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In a Nutshell: If you are looking for a historical fiction novel woven mostly around facts and with something other than WWII for a change, this is an interesting one.
Story:
The book is based on the life of Lady Evelyn Herbert, who is known for being one of the first people in modern times to enter the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922 along with her father Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter.
The story begins in 1972, fifty years after the above event. Eve, now in her 70s, has suffered yet another stroke and after some touch-and-go days in the hospital, is recovering at home with her beloved husband of almost 5 decades, Lord Brograve Beauchamp. When an Egyptian academic named Anna comes to visit her to enquire about something anomalous in the documentation of the discovery, Eve’s guards go up. But how can she save the reputation of Howard Carter, her father, and herself, when her stroke has left her memory in tatters?
The blurb makes it sound like the book is entirely about the discovery of the Tutankhamun tomb. But while this is a significant event in the book, the actual discovery itself is just a few pages long. The focus is more on the life of Eve, especially after the discovery when a series of unfortunate events (Sorry, Lemony Snicket!) creates rumours of an ancient malevolent curse on those who breached the tomb. There is also a lot of detail on Eve’s parents and brother and their personal problems, and on Eve’s life with Brograve, and of course on Anna’s interactions with Eve. Not that all this takes away anything from the narrative, but if you are looking for a dominant Egyptian theme in the plot, you might be disappointed. Egypt has an important role to play in the plot, but the book isn’t about Egypt per se.
The plot includes a lot of flashbacks set in the 1920s, which enable us to know what actually happened. The dual timeline isn’t written in the typical format of alternating past and present chapters. I don’t know how to describe it exactly. But imagine you are watching a movie set in the 1970s. The characters are talking or lost in some thought, and during the course of their conversation/musing comes a reference to something that happened in the past. The screen then fades into that specific historical point and you get to see what they were talking/thinking about. That’s exactly how the past events are interspersed in the 1970s timeline of the book. After a while, I could easily guess when the narrative would shift to the past: all that was needed was a trigger that mentioned a past event. It was an unusual method of writing dual timelines, and I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it or not.
The characters are a typical representation of the British upper class of the 1920s but with an atypical heroine. As most of the British characters are actual persons, I looked up some information on them and was happy to see a great level of accuracy in their portrayals. In the book, they come across exactly as they might have been in real life, based on the information available online. However, I wasn’t happy with the portrayal of the fictional Anna. She was the only Egyptian character in the plot, yet her depiction was somewhat demeaning. There seemed to be an undertone of praising British techniques while looking down on everything Egyptian except the artefacts. While this must be an accurate depiction of upper-class Britishers’ thoughts at that time, it felt awkward to read.
I hated how there was no guilty feeling in Eve at their having taken precious artefacts from the cave. I suppose this feeling of dissatisfaction is worse in me because I’m not a Brit but am “from the colonies”. I know how it feels to have your country’s treasures taken away from you under fake pretentions and then displayed in the so-called superior museums. It’s nothing but stealing. (I’ll not hold this against the book; it is accurate in its depictions of old-time archaeological pursuits. This is just my frustration coming out.) For this very reason, I loved the ending. It provided a small compensation.
Overall, the book flows fairly smoothly once you get used to the writing structure. The characters are interesting, the writing is neat, and the pace is quick. The secondary arcs are also taken care of neatly and they maintain faithfulness to facts. The ending made me push up my otherwise 3.75 rating to 4. It was really a fitting finale.
I heard the 11 hrs 32 min audiobook narrated by Imogen Clark and she was fantastic. I really enjoyed her performance as she was lively and emotional as required by the narrative. Full marks to her reading.
Recommended for all lovers of historical fiction who are looking for a great story on an atypical topic.
Thank you, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Story:
The book is based on the life of Lady Evelyn Herbert, who is known for being one of the first people in modern times to enter the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922 along with her father Lord Carnarvon and archaeologist Howard Carter.
The story begins in 1972, fifty years after the above event. Eve, now in her 70s, has suffered yet another stroke and after some touch-and-go days in the hospital, is recovering at home with her beloved husband of almost 5 decades, Lord Brograve Beauchamp. When an Egyptian academic named Anna comes to visit her to enquire about something anomalous in the documentation of the discovery, Eve’s guards go up. But how can she save the reputation of Howard Carter, her father, and herself, when her stroke has left her memory in tatters?
The blurb makes it sound like the book is entirely about the discovery of the Tutankhamun tomb. But while this is a significant event in the book, the actual discovery itself is just a few pages long. The focus is more on the life of Eve, especially after the discovery when a series of unfortunate events (Sorry, Lemony Snicket!) creates rumours of an ancient malevolent curse on those who breached the tomb. There is also a lot of detail on Eve’s parents and brother and their personal problems, and on Eve’s life with Brograve, and of course on Anna’s interactions with Eve. Not that all this takes away anything from the narrative, but if you are looking for a dominant Egyptian theme in the plot, you might be disappointed. Egypt has an important role to play in the plot, but the book isn’t about Egypt per se.
The plot includes a lot of flashbacks set in the 1920s, which enable us to know what actually happened. The dual timeline isn’t written in the typical format of alternating past and present chapters. I don’t know how to describe it exactly. But imagine you are watching a movie set in the 1970s. The characters are talking or lost in some thought, and during the course of their conversation/musing comes a reference to something that happened in the past. The screen then fades into that specific historical point and you get to see what they were talking/thinking about. That’s exactly how the past events are interspersed in the 1970s timeline of the book. After a while, I could easily guess when the narrative would shift to the past: all that was needed was a trigger that mentioned a past event. It was an unusual method of writing dual timelines, and I’m still not sure if I enjoyed it or not.
The characters are a typical representation of the British upper class of the 1920s but with an atypical heroine. As most of the British characters are actual persons, I looked up some information on them and was happy to see a great level of accuracy in their portrayals. In the book, they come across exactly as they might have been in real life, based on the information available online. However, I wasn’t happy with the portrayal of the fictional Anna. She was the only Egyptian character in the plot, yet her depiction was somewhat demeaning. There seemed to be an undertone of praising British techniques while looking down on everything Egyptian except the artefacts. While this must be an accurate depiction of upper-class Britishers’ thoughts at that time, it felt awkward to read.
Overall, the book flows fairly smoothly once you get used to the writing structure. The characters are interesting, the writing is neat, and the pace is quick. The secondary arcs are also taken care of neatly and they maintain faithfulness to facts. The ending made me push up my otherwise 3.75 rating to 4. It was really a fitting finale.
I heard the 11 hrs 32 min audiobook narrated by Imogen Clark and she was fantastic. I really enjoyed her performance as she was lively and emotional as required by the narrative. Full marks to her reading.
Recommended for all lovers of historical fiction who are looking for a great story on an atypical topic.
Thank you, HarperCollins UK Audio and NetGalley, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Fantastic historical fiction about the life of Lord Carnarvon's daughter, Eve. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review audio copy of this very interesting book. The narrator, Imogen Church, is top-notch as always, with what must have been a bit of a challenging character. This begins with Eve recovering from a stoke later in life and alternates between the 70s and her youth in the 20s. I had no idea she was involved with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. I'll be looking more at that period in history thanks to Ms. Paul!
I tried really hard to love this book because I thought that it could be a really interesting story about the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. I was left disappointed. The story bounced back and forth, in my opinion, erratically between the past and the main characters present life. I was hoping for greater detail and focus on the discovery of Tut’s tomb and the events that followed because I felt like that was what the book initially promised. Many of the characters were not very fleshed out, and seemed to be inserted into the story without any real value. This is especially true about the character named Ana. I felt like she didn’t serve any real purpose other than to show up out of the blue to harass a poor old woman recovering from a stroke. Ana’s backstory didn’t have any real value, and the main characters memories/present day struggle could have been used in a way that would have kept the focus on the tombs discovery. Again this could have been a great book and more interesting if the story focused more on the past.