Thursday, August 7, 2014

Review: The Visitors

The Visitors
By Sally Beauman
Harper July 2014
544 pages
From the library 


The Visitors

Lucy is an elderly woman looking back on her life. It is a life that has been far from ordinary. As an eleven year old girl, she traveled to Egypt and met a lifelong friend in Frances, the daughter of an archaeologist. As she becomes a part of their inner circle, she is privy to the details of one of the most exciting and secretive discoveries in history - Tutankhamun's tomb. As a researcher for a documentary grills Lucy for information, she discovers that she can no longer hide from the ghosts of her past. It is time to come clean about the secrets from the Valley of the Kings and her own life.

The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb was a sensation in the 1920s. Archaeologist Howard Carter, with the assistance of his benefactor Lord Carnarvon, had been searching for the tomb for years. When he finally discovers it, one of the first media frenzies descends on Egypt as journalists race to break the news first. After the tomb had been opened, there were allegations that Carter had opened it earlier and perhaps taken treasures from it. The research that went into writing this novel is abundantly clear, even before the large bibliography at the end of the book. Ms. Beauman brings Egypt to life with dazzling precision as we see it for the first time through Lucy's childish and sometimes naive eyes. 

The Visitors is marketed as a story of Egypt and archaeological discoveries, which is true. But it is so much more than that. Beauman captures beautifully the uncertainty of a child in a world of grownups - their desire to know all of the secrets and the knowledge that the things adults say are not always what they mean. We are also privy to a beautifully nuanced elderly Lucy. Here is a woman who has experienced war and peace, life with people she loved and agony when they die, the chilly drawing rooms of England and the hot sun of Egypt. She is surrounded by memories and her reminiscing made me think of Iris Chase of The Blind Assassin and Vida Winter from The Thirteenth Tale.

This book does so many things within the same story. Beauman has written a lovely coming of age story as Lucy searches for people to love and trust. It's a thrilling adventure tale as we search for hidden treasure with famous archaeologists. But it might truly be a ghost story, as Lucy finds herself surrounded by the memories of people she loved and lost and the decisions that she made. The Visitors is the kind of book you can truly immerse yourself in as you marvel at the pyramids and determine exactly what happened at Tutankhamun's tomb. 

12 comments:

  1. Wow! This book sounds fantastic! I wasn't so sure about it before, but after reading your post I most definitely want to read it now. Thanks!

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    1. I'm so glad my review helped you make a decision. Let me know what you think!!

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  2. This sounds so good - books set in the European discovery of Ancient Egypt are my comfort reads, and this one sounds perfect :)

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    1. That's right! I think this one would be perfect for you. :)

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  3. Wow, it seems like it could be nonfiction almost. I think I would love this.

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    1. I have to imagine that Beauman did a ton of research for this one! All of her sources are in the back of the book, so you can branch out after you read the novel.

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  4. If only it weren't 500+ pages! I'm struggling to keep up with my stack of 300+ page books. It sounds like a great book, but I just can't face the length right now. Sigh. I think I need to learn to read faster. :)

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    1. Big books are tough, especially for those of us who blog. We see all of the other people reading six books a week and despair a bit over our one or two books (or maybe that's just me!)

      Maybe you could read it in tandem with some short books?

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  5. This sounds fascinating! It's really, really long, but maybe it's worth it. Thanks for the review!

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    1. It is a long read and it took me a while to get into it. But then I hit a certain point and really wanted to live in the world of this story!

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  6. I loved studying Egypt in middle school, but I actually don't think I've read any books set there. This review makes me want to though! Like Heidi, I like that it seems like it could be similar to nonfiction. It seems like it could be a lot of fun to learn more about this time in history.

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    1. This would be a great novel to pair with a biography or a good nonfiction book or two! :)

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