Sandra Adelson's Wrap Her In Light is the story of Tutankhamun's queen, Ankhesenamun. Against the drama of the historical period (Akhenaten's "Great Heresy", and the fallout from that), is the love story of Ankhesenamun and the (fictional) scribe, Senumet. Adelson's writing is engaging and the story she weaves is intriguing. Certainly, this isn't the best Amarna novel I've ever read, but it is one of the better ones. The historical accuracy could be better, but that may have more to do with the time it was written and published in than poor research. The characterisations were good, but could have been better. I felt too often that the characters were drifting towards being merely stereotypes – Horemheb as the loyal, but dumb soldier, Ay as the villainous puppeteer, Tutankhamun as a child-like figure. I did like that Ankhesenamun, while being the heroine of the piece, was allowed to act out rather than being the perfect little princess and queen throughout the novel. I enjoyed that Adelson did stray from some of the most ubiquitous Amarna tropes. For example, Horemheb's queen, Mutnodjmet, is not Nefertiti's sister. Neither is Nefertiti the daughter of Ay, but a princess of Mitanni. Nefertiti was probably Egyptian-born, but I found it refreshing to see a different take on Nefertiti's origins – Nefertiti as a Mitanni princess is an old theory, but one I haven't found too often depicted in historical fiction. It's always Nefertiti is the daughter of Ay and his very beautiful and well-loved wife, who dies as she gives birth to Nefertiti and Ay later settles for Nefertiti's nurse, Tey. Personally, I'm so tired of hearing that story, especially when only circumstantial evidence links Nefertiti to Ay. The historical accuracy is a bit of an issue. Part of it is the age of the book, but there were a few mistakes that stood out glaringly to me. The high priest of Amun is given the name of Tushratta, which instantly confused me as Tushratta was, in history, the name of the Mitanni king during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten. The depiction as Horemheb as largely loyal to the Atenist pharaohs is strange since it is now believed that it was Horemheb who began the major backlash against these pharaohs. On the whole, Wrap Her In Light is a worthwhile read. The story was interesting, and even though I could take or leave the romance aspect, it was pulled off in a satisfying, though ultimately tragic, way. Four stars.
