Christian Jacq is pre-eminent in everything Egyptian in the historical sense. His bestselling Ramses series launched his career and now, in the first of a new four book series, in the temple of Abydos, an acacia tree is dying. Its death threatens all of Egypt. Can Iker and Sesostris, the weak young boy and the great man of power, succeed in preventing Osiris from dying for the last time, thereby saving Egypt?
In the temple of Abydos, an acacia tree is dying. And its death threatens all of Egypt. For this is no ordinary tree: it sprang forth from the tomb of the god Osiris, the first ruler of Egypt, as proof of his triumph over death. The great pharaoh Sesostris III immediately joins battle against the invisible enemy who wishes to lead Egypt to her doom. But unknown to Sesostris, within his closest circle hides a traitor, a man who dreams of power and glory, a man who will sell himself to the powers of darkness in order to achieve his aim. A young apprentice scribe, Iker, becomes an unwilling player in this mystery. Kidnapped by sailors who refer darkly to a 'state secret', Iker does not know who is trying to kill him, nor indeed who is trying to protect him. Haunted by a vision of a beautiful young priestess, Iker senses that someone is guiding or manipulating him, and that he has set out on a road whose end he does not know. Will the two of them, Iker and Sesostris, the weak young boy and the great man of power, succeed in preventing Osiris from dying for the last time, thereby saving Egypt?
Christian Jacq, born in Paris in 1947, was thirteen years old when he read a work that was to change the course of his life: The History of Ancient Egyptian Civilization, by Jacques Pirenne. Jacq was already an occasional poet, and this reading inspired him to start his first novel. In the following five years, he wrote eight novels, beginning a literary career that has resulted in over fifty books. With a doctorate in Egyptian Studies from the Sorbonne, Christian Jacq established his academic reputation in numerous scholarly articles and became a producer for one of France's leading radio stations. His first successful novel was Champollion the Egyptian, published in 1987. He and his wife have also founded and now head the Ramses Institute, which is dedicated to creating a photographic description of Egypt for the preservation of endangered archaeological sites. In 1995, he began his five-volume account of the life of Ramses II. An international bestseller, the five volumes are being published in twenty-four countries.
