Hatshepsut: Daughter of Amun

Egyptian Sequence #1

by Moyra Caldecott

Ancient Egypt 3500 years ago - a land ruled by the all-powerful female king, Hatshepsut. Ambitious, ruthless and worldly: a woman who established Amun as the chief god of Egypt, bestowing his Priesthood with unprecedented riches and power. This is a story of vision and obsession, of mighty projects and heartbreaking failures - the story of a woman possessed by the desire for power and the need to love.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Egypt, Fiction, Historical

248 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1989

About the author

Started academic career by obtaining degrees in English Literature and Philosophy.

* Briefly lectured in English Literature at university level.

* Raised three children and had a most interesting and stimulating life as the wife of Oliver Caldecott in London from 1951 to 1989. (Oliver was an editor at Penguin, Readers Union, and Hutchinson and founded his own publishing firm Wildwood House with his partner Dieter Pevsner. His last editorial post was at Rider, for Century Hutchinson. He was also a very good artist.)

* Took evening classes in palaeontology (geology always a favourite subject), religious studies and mythology.

* Was secretary of the Dulwich Group in the ’sixties, a most successful poetry reading group. Read a lot. Wrote books. Met many interesting people and had many interesting discussions. Travelled a lot.


* Her life has also been enriched by the interests of her children: Religion – Conservation – Art.

* She has had various experiences she considers to be ‘paranormal’, including a dramatic healing from angina. She gives talks to various personal growth and consciousness raising groups, and groups interested in the ancient sacred sites of Britain.

* Her most successful book so far, Guardians Of The Tall Stones, is set in ancient Bronze Age Britain, and is required reading for some groups visiting the sacred sites of Britain from America. It has been in print continuously since 1977.

* Myths and legends are a particular passion and she follows Jung and Joseph Campbell in believing that they are not ‘just’ stories but actually deep and meaningful expressions of the universal and eternal in the human psyche.

Reviews

[Zorana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volim knjige smestene u Stari Egipat. Zaista volim. I sve bi bilo u redu i mozda bi bila zvezdica vise, ali na 3/4 knjige pojavise se polja kukuruza (gde im ni vreme ni mesto nije) i sve ode u ... Nil.

[Jenks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a slow book. I was about 1/4 way through before anything of substance started happening .

I have the next three novels so I will finish reading them all as I don’t like to quit !

But I really hope the next novels aren’t this boring !

Hatshepsut was an amazing woman in history her story is remarkable and I just didn’t feel the author did her justice - it made her sound a whiny selfish pharaoh . The ideas of her loosing people so close to her are so emotive but the author just scratched the surface.

Hopefully the next ones are a bit faster paced.

[Roselyn Blonger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but it was quite boring. There was nothing to keep the reader engaged—neither the characters nor the events. The beginning seemed promising, but I could never connect with the characters because they lacked personality. They simply moved like puppets to fit the historical facts, and the author never bothered to give them depth or explore the wonders of imagination.

Honestly, reading a book about Hatshepsut would be easier, shorter, and more engaging than reading a novel where nothing really happens.