Dive into ancient Egypt with this hardback novel by Wilbur Smith, a master of adventure fiction. The story follows Taita and Piay as they battle a warlord threatening Rameses' kingdom. This authentic British book delivers thrilling historical fiction.
Hidden in the shadows, an evil will rise . . .
Piay, appointed Nomarch of Memphis by the God-Pharoah Rameses, has transformed his city, rebuilding the famous white walls, feeding the once starving citizens and returning the wealth plundered by the barbarian Hyksos.
But when a murdered scribe is found sealed inside the city's newly-constructed vault - with the mark of Anubis, god of death, scrawled next to him in blood - panic tears through the people.
Piay calls on the only man in Egypt he knows can discover the truth: his mentor, the great sage Taita. But soon after Taita's arrival in Memphis, the bloody mark of Anubis appears again.
Taita and Piay are pitted against a criminal mastermind turned warlord. The pair's adversary has a simple, brutal aim: restore the Red Pretender's kingdom - and obliterate Rameses's forces.
Drawn into a desperate battle of wits, can Taita and Piay finally reunite the two kingdoms? Or will the shadow of the Red Pretender tear Egypt apart once again?
Who will survive the battle in the house of the two pharaohs?
Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964 following the success of When the Lion Feeds, and has since published over fifty global bestsellers, including the Courtney Series, the Ballantyne Series, the Egyptian Series, the Hector Cross Series and many successful standalone novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide.
Mark Chadbourn is a Sunday Times bestselling author of historical fiction novels about the Anglo-Saxon warrior Hereward, published under his pseudonym James Wilde. His Age of Misrule books, under his own name, have been translated into many languages. As a screenwriter, he's written for the BBC and is currently developing a series for Lionsgate and several of the streaming networks. He began his career as a journalist reporting from the world's hotspots.
