The Cat of Bubastes

OK, I said that I couldn't tell what era of Egyptian history this was supposed to be. But I figured it out when there was a cameo from MOSES. So I guess we know now!

Noted on April 18, 2019

I picked this up because I came across a very cool collection of GA Henty books at the Spencer Research Library. I'd never heard of him, but he was a prolific author of adventure fiction around the turn of the century, and the covers were cool. I thought they might be something like H Rider Haggard, who I like for his pulpy adventure and also 'colonial brits kind of looking like jerks.'

This book is a fiction / adventure story set in ancient Egypt - but not really ancient - it's hard to tell what era we're in. It's interesting, but it's also highly didactic: you can tell Henty is trying to cram in every fact or supposition he has about Egyptian culture, and also make an ancillary case to tie in to Old Testament history when possible. There are a lot of characters explaining things to each other. But it's still interesting!

The library's cheap paperback I have is a Dover Thrift Edition, and it has a truly terrible cover.

Noted on April 18, 2019