Pillar of Fire

This monumental novel of ancient Egypt is set during the turbulent reigns of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his successors. The story unfolds through the eyes of Nofret, a slave girl, who comes to know more of the king and of his city than most. Egypt's long history has no more mysterious reign than that of Akhenaten, disciple of the One God, the Aten. Akhenaten abolished the worship of all other gods in Egypt and built a city devoted to the Aten, ruling for a decade of increasing civil unrest. Without a son of his own, he was forced to accept his brother, Smenkhkare, as co-pharaoh. Akhenaten died mysteriously, and the young boy-king Tutankhaten became co-pharaoh with Smenkhkare. Within a few months, much of the royal family was dead of plague, and Tutankhaten took the name by which he is known to history: Tutankhamon.