The Wise Woman [Paperback]

They built a civilization ahead of its time, and dominated the ancient world. They defined an era of war, love, passion, power, and betrayal. They were a people of mystery whose secrets have turned to dust -- but who inspire our awe and wonder even to this day...
The ancient Egyptians
They showed us how to live. And how to die.
Christian Jacq, author of the international triumphRamses,brings the people and the passions of ancient Egypt ot life in an enthralling epic novel in four volumes.Chapter One

Danger stalked the land.

Since the death of Ramses the Great, after a reign of sixty-seven years, the people of the Place of Truth had been in a state of high anxiety. Their village on the west bank of Thebes was a place of secrets, and no outsider was allowed within its high walls. Its thirty-two craftsmen, the Brotherhood of the Place of Truth, worked devotedly at their calling, which was to construct and decorate royal tombs; the women were both housewives and priestesses of Hathor. Now the villagers wondered what fate had in store for them, for they were entirely dependent on the pharaoh and his first minister, thetjaty.

The seventy days during which the deceased pharaoh was mummified were nearly over. What would the new king, Ramses' son Meneptah, do? Ramses had been both protector and generous benefactor of the Place of Truth and of its craftsmen, allowing them their own courts of law and ensuring that food and water were delivered every day. Would Meneptah do the same? If not, what would become of them? Nor was that their only worry. The new pharaoh was sixty-five and was said to be authoritarian, stern, and just; but would he have the skill to handle the inevitable intrigues and rid himself of those plotters who sought to occupy the Throne of the Living and seize the Two Lands of Upper and Lower Egypt?

The craftsmen were not the only ones worried about the village's safety: Commander Sobek had been lñ