The Visitors - by Sally Beauman (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Based on a true story of discovery, The Visitors is New York Times bestselling author Sally Beauman's brilliant recreation of the hunt for Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings--a dazzling blend of fact and fiction that brings to life a lost world of exploration, adventure, and danger, and the audacious men willing to sacrifice everything to find a lost treasure.

In 1922, when eleven year-old Lucy is sent to Egypt to recuperate from typhoid, she meets Frances, the daughter of an American archaeologist. The friendship draws the impressionable young girl into the thrilling world of Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter, who are searching for the tomb of boy pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings.

A haunting tale of love and loss, The Visitors retells the legendary story of Carter and Carnarvon's hunt and their historical discovery, witnessed through the eyes of a vulnerable child whose fate becomes entangled in their dramatic quest. As events unfold, Lucy will discover the lengths some people will go to fulfill their deepest desires--and the lies that become the foundation of their lives.

Intensely atmospheric, The Visitors recalls the decadence of Egypt's aristocratic colonial society, and illuminates the obsessive, daring men willing to risk everything--even their sanity--to claim a piece of the ancient past. As fascinating today as it was nearly a century ago, the search for King Tut's tomb is made vivid and immediate in Sally Beauman's skilled hands. A dazzling feat of imagination, The Visitors is a majestic work of historical fiction.

From the Back Cover

Sent abroad to Egypt in 1922 to recover from the typhoid that killed her mother, eleven-year-old Lucy becomes swept up in the feverish excitement surrounding the search for Tutankhamun's tomb. She forms an immediate bond with Frances, the daughter of an American archaeologist. Through this friendship, Lucy witnesses firsthand the intrigue, politics, and passions surrounding this quest. Their friendship sustains them throughout childhood, guides them through the class-ridden colonial society in which they grow up, and takes them into an adult life that promises fulfillment--until it veers toward heartbreak.

Looking back on her past much later in life, Lucy tells a deeply moving story of love and loss, of mistakes made and incendiary secrets concealed. She reveals the circumstances that lie behind the most celebrated discovery ever made in the Valley of the Kings, a discovery clouded by deception, in which triumph swiftly turned to tragedy, a story that mirrors her own. As Lord Carnarvon and the archaeologist Howard Carter force the desert to yield its treasures, Lucy reveals the extremes to which people are driven by desire--even when these extremes involve building a life around a lie.

Review Quotes

"If you've never read 'Rebecca, ' Beauman's book is still a cracking good read." - Detroit Free Press on Rebecca's Tale

Praise for Rebecca's Tale: "If you've read Rebecca and loved it, Beauman brings it to more colorful life." - Chicago Tribune on Rebecca's Tale

"Excellent...Perfect...Mastery from surprise to surprise." - Christian Science Monitor on Rebecca's Tale

"Atmospheric.... Sally Beauman's fact-inspired story plunges readers into the thrilling search for King Tut's tomb in 1922 Egypt." - Parade

"Romance, deception, and colonial decadence." - More magazine

"[A] beautifully written novel, a tale of intertwined lives that is at once powerful and haunting. Beauman maintains the tension surrounding the tomb's discovery." - The Times (London)

"Interesting, unusual and informative, it is greatly enjoyable." - Literary Review

"This historical novel approaches...the 20th century's most sensational archaeological event.... There are riches here." - Kirkus Reviews

"There is much to delight in this book....Nearly a century after King Tut's discovery, Beauman manages to make both the lives of her fictional characters and those at the historical center of Tut's unearthing riveting." - New York Journal of Books

"A book of astounding scholarship on Egyptology and the 1920s.... The novel's...writing and characterizations are golden." - Booklist(starred review)

"Vividly evocative of place, time, and character, REBECCA'S TALE is a page-turner in its own right. - Richmond Times-Dispatch

"A great big beast of a saga with plenty of costume drama, celebrities, glamorous locations, spooks and murders. It's Death on the Nile meets Downton Abbey, as the action moves between Highclere Castle and Egypt's Valley of the Kings. A gripping story touching on friendship, scholarship, love and family." - Daily Mail (London)