Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Archaeologist Lucie Fitzgerald's mother is dying – she's also been lying. As her home, the 'Paris of the East', Beirut, teeters on the brink of war in the ‘70s, Polly Fitzgerald has one last story to tell from her deathbed. It’s the story of her childhood best friend Juno and their life in 30s Cairo. Lucie travels home to be with her dying mother and discovers the truth about her family, Juno's work and their shared search for the greatest undiscovered tomb of all - Nefertiti's.
Many thanks to Simon and Schuster UK via NetGalley for my copy of The Golden Hour to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Golden Hour is the latest book from Kate Lord Brown set in Egypt in 1939 and Beirut in 1975. The stunning cover for this book is very evocative of the time and place and would easily catch readers attention. Once you have then picked up the book it’s difficult to leave it down as the chapters just flow so well melding effortlessly into one another with the dual timeline aspect weaving back and forth between the past and the present. This is a beautifully written and impeccably researched story with such powerful and impactful imagery and symbolism. There are many layers to the story with hidden meanings and the comparisons between the past and present are stark and memorable. It’s evident the author spent a lot of time researching Egyptology and the history of the Valley of the Kings and the Pharaohs and it was all completely riveting and fascinating. In fact, it really makes you want to continue to do your own research and delve deeper into the topic. Yet, the story never came across as stuffy and rigid filled with historical fact that bogged the themes and plot down instead it felt as if everything was natural and richly atmospheric.
I think what I loved most about this book was that it was something different from the usual World War Two books that I have read. Having it set on a different continent and in Egypt made for something new, fresh and exciting for me. Although it’s more the threat of a war that the characters face in the past and present rather than the specific events of both wars that are dealt with but still the tension, the unrest and the unnerving atmosphere still pervades. In 1975, Lucie has been called back to Beirut where she learns her mother Polly has not long left to live. As Polly is on the brink of leaving this world and entering the next, her beloved city of Beirut is itself facing challenges. Unrest and war are about to break out with many leaving the city. Polly runs an Arabian stud farm and she needs her horses to be taken care of but also she has a story to tell that she has long kept secret. She can’t let go until she has done so and through calling Lucie home, she will reveal a remarkable story of love, secrets and the power of friendship.
Lucie is shocked to learn that Polly has not much longer left with her. When she meets local vet David at the airport a connection is formed and despite his anxiety about leaving the city as trouble brews ever stronger he comes to Polly’s farm and helps where needed. The bond that developed between the pair was subtle and it did not take over the story for their friendship was not the sole focus and nor should it have been. Yet, still it was essential to show the contrast between relationships in the past and how they can be so different in the present. Lucie works as an archaeologist, again another comparison with the past. Like Juno in the past she too is searching for Nefertiti’s tomb but now is the time to be with Polly as she slowly reveals her story with its many shocking twists, turns, trials and tribulations which is also heart-breaking in equal measure. The tissues may very well be needed on more than one occasion.
The chapters set in the present are a way of bridging the gap back to the past and truthfully it is Polly and Juno’s story set in Egypt in 1939 that truly captured my attention. That’s not to say I didn’t appreciate Lucie’s aspect of the overall plot. It was essential but it was just the way the story was written as the world hovered on the brink of war was absolutely fantastic and I loved every chapter. Polly and her best friend Juno are like sisters who have been there for each other through thick and thin ever since they met each other at boarding school in England, sharing the common bond of both being orphans. Theirs was a deep and long lasting friendship whose paths merge once again in Cairo as Polly and her new husband Fitz have been posted to the city. Juno already lives there with her husband Alec and young son Billy who is tended to by the male nanny Raif. Juno was a pure enigma. I felt we learned so much about her but yet there were so many things that she kept hidden. But one thing she did not keep secret was her passion for Ancient Egypt. Her love and devotion for the topic shone through from every page and it as clear that the author herself shares this same passion. I think when you are deeply interested in something and want to write about it you will do so to perfection and that really came across here throughout the book.
Juno has a long held ambition to discover the lost tomb of Nefertiti and is determined to get on Professor Brandt’s team as he excavates in the Valley of the Kings which may very well be the last dig before war shuts everything down. Juno is stubborn and determined in her plans and she had a fiery spirit about her. Polly looked up to her so much and admired her even if at times she got herself into precarious positions. Also, at times I felt Juno was neglectful of Polly and unaware of what she herself was going through. Almost as if it was always Juno who had challenges and struggles and she didn’t always reciprocate Polly’s need for support. Juno’s husband Alec was not the man that she had married and to say the relationship was strained was an understatement. His experiences from the Great War had deeply affected him but the further I read the more I thought that this was just an excuse. This I feel made Juno jealous of Polly in that she didn’t have the same depth to her relationship as had Polly and Fitz. I thought Juno was an independent woman so why didn’t she break free from Alec? Alec was ghastly, controlling and a bully and his actions throughout portrayed him as cruel and domineering and not worthy of the any attention that he received throughout.
Juno and Polly’s story in Cairo unfolds at a perfect pace and the reader really gets to know them. The crux of the plot starts to become clearer and it’s when Juno gets a position on a dig in Luxor that the basis of the story which had been put in place in the first half begin to come to fruition. All the details of the various Kings and how the digs were carried out and what the Kings believed at the time etc were brilliant. A history lesson was unfolding before my eyes and one in which I was very much invested. It’s a fascinating time period which is not written about enough in books and the fact it was blended with the two shall I say modern day stories made this all the more appealing. I did kind of guess one aspect of the reveal just before it occurred but it didn’t detract from when the big moment came which itself was equally shocking and heart-breaking.
All in all, The Golden Hour was a wonderful book. A complete success for Kate Lord Brown who has written a book the reader can completely immerse themselves in and you catapult yourself back to a very different world from the one in which we live today. I just hope Kate won’t leave it as long before she publishes her next book.
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