Amenhotep, Son of Hapu: A Tale of Egypt: Book One: Scribe's Ascent

One of the most realistic, fictional accounts of ancient Egyptian life ever penned, Scribe’s Ascent is the first novel in the Amenhotep, Son of Hapu: A Tale of Egypt series. As Egypt’s foremost éminent grise, Amenhotep narrates in Scribe’s Ascent his rise from a miserable provincial backwater to a position second only to Pharaoh’s in power. The story unfolds as Egypt is on the verge of a cultural and religious upheaval that threatens everything the aged scribe cherishes. Tenaciously devoted to tradition, betrayed by his family, and with a new king, his one-time pupil, plotting to destroy him, Amenhotep now understands he played a pivotal role in triggering the coming catastrophe, an era later called the “Amarna Revolution.” To avoid everlasting damnation, Amenhotep begins to plead his case: that his single purpose in life was to preserve the established order—the perfection of things at the beginning—against change, confusion, and chaos.