I stumbled on the story of Hatshepsut 9 years ago. Why after being an excellent ruler for 22 years was her Temple stripped of her statues which were smashed and buried. It was so extreme and Egyptologists don’t know why. But my book tells her story.
Annette was born in Sydney Australia, spent some formative years in Central Africa, but was largely schooled in the UK. Her first profession was physiotherapy followed by motherhood, then beekeeping.
A visit to Egypt in 2010 alerted her to the mysteries surrounding the royal heiress, Hatshepsut, the subject of her first book, ‘The King and her children’. Hatshepsut led Egypt as pharaoh for 22 successful years, so why was all record of her reign wiped out by those who followed? What had she done?
But Hatshepsut is only the beginning. In Book 2, ‘The Napoleon of Egypt’, another fascinating history unfolds. The work of the Hebrew slaves frees Egyptian peasant farmers for full time war, enabling Egypt’s rise to dominate the known world. But then the Exodus.
And the effects of the Exodus continue on, right down to Tutankhamun, at the end of the 18th Dynasty, as Egypt loses her northern Empire and the city states of Canaan write letters to the pharaohs begging for help against marauding Habiri invaders. This is not conventional history, but it is a very plausible interpretation of the facts we have. And it all needs writing. So this is the challenge ahead. Annette hopes you will travel it with her.