The Missing Queen

by Sally Watson

King Tutankhamon is dead. The possibly-divine ivory cat Nefru is still (perhaps) putting a paw into royal Egyptian affairs.Lord Ay wants a royal wife-Tut's widow, actually-to give him the blood-right to the throne. She flees marriage with him and finds long-lost relatives. Princesses Baketamon and Meri have both longed to be Queen of Egypt-but both find sand in that honey. General Horemheb (described as being like 'desert red, rectangles and a lion') has sent Ranofer to find a lady once known as Twitterwit. Four competitive Hunting Parties from Thebes are searching for some long-missing princesses. Chief of Police Mahu knows where they all are, but won't tell. His son Ranofer, who fears he'll never fit his father's sandals-and fears Horemheb even more-doesn't want to know. Besotted and delusional Ahmose knows, but his incoherence just further confuses all four Hunting Parties-who were already at cross-purposes. A garrulous washerman thinks he knows everything. The kitten Katti sometimes gives what might possibly be divine messages from Nefru (or Bastet?). The massive cat Ab-ram, still always getting tripped over in doorways, still innocently certain of his welcome, changes history for all of them.

246 pages, Paperback

First published June 6, 2008

About the author

Watson is a YA historical fiction writer, mostly about the British royals. She moved to England in 1964 and lived there for 24 years. Her most well-known works are parts of her English Family Tree series. Most of her books went out of print in the 1970s, many eventually reprinted by Image Cascade. She has also written YA novels set in ancient Egypt.

Her most recent book is The Angry Earth, an adult story of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811.