Museum Visit Triggers Author's Passion for Egypt
Thirty members and guests attended Fiona’s lively talk “Why Egypt Inspires the Modern Imagination” in the Museum Friends’ Shop in Fremlin Walk on April 7.
A visit to Maidstone Museum, when she was very young, inspired Fiona Deal‘s lifelong interest in classical and modern Egypt. Fiona recalled that early visit as the trigger for a passion that led to her writing 10 novels based around the What Ifs of that fascinating classical period peopled by Pharoahs and of course the Boy King Tutankhamun, famously discovered by Howard Carter in November 1922.
She was mesmerised by Maidstone Museum’s mummy and is convinced that mummification is the reason for the universal interest in those long ago times. Fiona held them spellbound with a talk that spanned centuries and referenced her 10 novels – the first is “Carter’s Conundrums,” the latest “Ramses’ Revenge.”
They examine the tantalising unknowns in Egyptian classical history and, using her “detective” Meredith (Merry) Pink, vivid imagination and deep knowledge of Egyptian history, Fiona solves the mysteries that in the real world forever remain mysteries. But could it be that she might just have hit on the right answer?
She spoke expressively of her frequent visits to Egypt, the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. “Egypt has that ability to grab you,” she said.”I look for the gaps in history.” Fiona revealed that she is writing her 11th novel to join the others that are all available via Amazon.
