Author Bio:
N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun.
The inspiration for her Bronze Age novels came with an assignment she gave to her students one day: here are the only documents we have telling us about a certain royal divorce in Ugarit in the 13th century. How much can we say about what happened? It quickly became apparent that almost anything we might come up with was as much fiction as historiography!
Today, since their son is grown, she lives with her husband, three cats and a dog. They split their time between Florida and northern France, where she gardens, weaves, plays the violin, dances, and occasionally drives a jog-cart. And reads, of course.
Book Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3JXzsuF
Editorial Review:
Hani would forever remember what he was doing the day he learned of the coregent’s death.
A good first line and a great beginning to a somewhat convoluted tale set in Ancient Egypt with the most difficult character names to try to remember. Hani (the easiest name to remember) is summoned by Queen Nefertiti (King Akhen-Khepra-Ra) and by Lord Ay (the king’s father) to investigate a series of thefts within the royal household... and not only that, but of the suspicious death of a midwife. This is a historical murder mystery set on the banks of the Nile, infusing modern language and actions into this ancient civilization in a rather ambivalent way. Ambivalent in that the narrative causes a vacillation of feelings as the reader is immersed in the world-building descriptive passages of lily-painted columned palaces against the somewhat anachronistic way the people talk to each other, which feels more modern than how you might imagine Ancient Egyptians talking.
In the storyline, the investigation into this death leads Hani and his son-in-law, Maya, to delve into the mystery and how the ‘rumors’ about Nefertiti’s son, Prince Haru in the Nest (Tut-ankh-aten), being the actual son of a servant girl who was switched at birth. In the midst of all the mystery, the reader is thrust into the political and religious intrigue as revolutionaries, including the Queen, intend on re-establishing the old worship of Amen-Ra by civil war. Yet, Hani’s family life is one of peace and he enjoys the shade of his garden and the day-to-day activities of a good life, even if he has sworn to serve the Queen, no matter what she asks of him.
In trying to conform your mind to this ancient way of life, a reader must do a little research of their own to understand how royal life worked in those days. For someone whose knowledge of Egyptian royalty is nil, the idea of a Queen becoming a King is quite confusing at first, and therefore, perhaps reading the first books in this series is essential to understanding all that is transpiring in the storyline. That being said, Holmes does a great job in writing very active scenes as well as descriptive passages which immerse the reader into the setting. I was particularly drawn to Neferet and Baket-iset, the daughters of Hani, the former of whom served as a physician in the royal household and the latter who suffers from a debilitating injury, but both of whom brighten the story with their personalities. But the knowledge of what really happened at Tut-ankh-aten’s birth may have something more to do with the murders... all leading Hani down a very dangerous path of discovery.
No question but that the death of Ankh-khepur-ra is the end of something, and the gorgeous facade that remains standing is hollow and doomed.
In learning about Ancient Egyptian beliefs and customs, the title Lake of Flowers intrigued me and as is the case so often in historical fiction, pushed me to delve into the meaning and the correlation to the storyline. The belief was, in summation: if the soul passed through the Weighing of the Heart it moved on to a path which led to Lily Lake (also known as the Lake of Flowers). There are, again, a number of versions of what could happen on this path where, in some, one finds dangers to be avoided and gods to help and guide while, in others, it is an easy walk down the kind of path one would have known back home.
The imagery of this point in actual history as relating to Hani is traversed quite well, even from the very beginning as ‘every time he saw his garden, it tucked a blanket of peace and contentment around his soul – the square pool in the middle with its water lilies and the four flower beds edged with stones, a small tree at the center of each, separated by clean gravel paths.’ Hani finds dangers along the way through this metaphorical path, sometimes easy, sometimes difficult, and all with the guidance of others and the gods. In the belief, a person must show their self-worth to continue the journey, and Hani does this very skillfully.
All in all, this is an enjoyable read into a era not often traversed in historical fiction but one readers will be delighted with, not only in the historical accuracy but in the melding together of old and new in the way people interacted and communicated with one another. Also, in the fact that murder mysteries were very much a part of ancient history.
“We all have moral problems these days... But as a servant of the Great House, I have to be on some side.”
*****
“Lake of Flowers” by N. L. Holmes receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company