My Fascination with Egypt

I can trace my fascination with Egypt back to a book that I borrowed from the library when I was in 7th grade at the International School of Amsterdam. For years, I thought the book was called something like "Queen for a Day" but never remembered the author's name. The book was a fictionalized account of the life of Ankhsenamen, Tutankhamen's queen. It captured my imagination tremendously, with all of its intricate details of life in ancient times, and I went on to read Howard Carter's accounts of finding the boy king's tomb in 1922, plus countless other books on Egyptology.

Over the years, I searched for the book in passing but never laid my hands on it.

Last Sunday, we were at the Menlo Park Children's Library and I saw a book on the recent returns shelf, "The Lost Queen of Egypt" by Lucille Morrison. I picked it up and saw a very familiar cover. I quickly scanned the front flap then turned to the last page of the book. I had found it! This was the book that I remembered from 25+ years ago!




I eagerly checked it out and when I got home, went on Amazon to look for it. Of course it was out of print. But there were 43 reviews on the book - and a large proportion of the reviews were very similar to my own experience. Many people had loved this book as children, "lost" the book and discovered it again.

It's out of print now, and a few used copies were available from dealers on Amazon. After a moment's hesitation, I went ahead and bought myself one. Didn't want to lose it yet again...