The Price of Glory
In 1839, Richard Mallet, called Aeneas, is in Cairo to unravel the secrets of the Kushite language. In a souk, he rescues Analiese (Ana) when she is being harassed by an ogre while administering smallpox vaccinations as the Khedive’s hakima. Later, he meets her again at a dinner party given by Ana’s father, Cloutier, a Frenchman and the Khedive’s physician. Cloutier reluctantly permits Ana to travel on a smallpox eradication tour to the south. Aeneas is also in the expedition, and en route, there is danger and much intrigue, and they become close. The magic of the moonlit Karnak Temple initiates Ana and Aeneas’s romance, but the Khedive has ulterior motives from which they must escape.
This is another of Caroline Warfield’s well-written and well-plotted historical novels. The historical and medical details of that era in Egypt are fittingly presented through the lives of the multifaceted cast. While most characters behave appropriately, Ana is strong yet at times unreasonable, particularly as a physician, which causes her some grief. Both Ana and Aeneas must pay the price for the glory they earn. The novel brings us to that tumultuous time and would be particularly interesting to those unfamiliar with Egypt’s history. Highly recommended.
