The Eye of Nefertiti: A Pharaoh’s Cat Novel by Maria Luisa Lang
Now a New Yorker, the Pharaoh’s cat–the ancient Egyptian feline with human powers–travels back in time to free Egypt’s legendary Queen Nefertiti from a horrific curse, discovering firsthand why her mummy has never been found and her famous bust is missing one eye.
As in the first Pharaoh’s cat novel, the cat is quick-witted, wisecracking narrator as well as free-spirited, ever-curious protagonist, and the story he tells is an exotic, imaginative, spell-binding tragicomedy. The Eye of Nefertiti also interweaves feline and human, past and present, natural and supernatural. It too contains numerous surprises, twists and turns, intriguing characters, both human and animal, fascinating revelations about ancient Egyptian history and culture. Added to all this is an ingenious use of the Tarot and Italian opera.
The cat is living happily in New York City with the High Priest, Elena, daughter of an Egyptologist, and their infant son, the cat’s beloved Pharaoh reincarnated, when the supernatural gradually intrudes in the form of phantasms, the plot of an Italian opera, a Tarot card reading, and an unexpected summons to present-day Bath Spa disguised as an opportunity for Elena.
She and the little Pharaoh travel conventionally while the cat and the High Priest take the little boat they use for time travel and are diverted to ancient Stonehenge for a brief stop-over. The figure at the center of their encounter with the Druids has been prefigured in the cat’s phantasms, the Italian opera, and the Tarot reading, all his uncanny experiences being in accord with a single design.
Reunited with Elena and the infant Pharaoh in Bath, the cat and the High Priest discover a secret tomb below the Georgian house where they are staying, and are soon impelled to journey to ancient Egypt in the time of Queen Nefertiti to save her from a horrific curse. They become separated as they search for Nefertiti and the cat has several adventures before finding her on his own.
He undertakes an ingenious deception to stay close to her without revealing his identity. Being so close, he falls in love with her. He succeeds in lifting the horrific curse at great cost to himself. Despite his love, he surrenders Nefertiti to history and, mourning his loss, descends into a psychological abyss so deep only the Pharaoh can save him.
Excerpt from the Book
It’s summer, and I’m stretched out on a windowsill in my bedroom with the sunlight warming the fur on my back. It’s quiet except for the drone of traffic on the Henry Hudson Parkway and the occasional whir of a helicopter flying along the river.
I once shared this bedroom with my friend Gato-Hamen, the High Priest of Amun-Ra. He and I had fled ancient Egypt on his magic boat. It was only supposed to carry us to a foreign land, but it took us through time as well as space here to Elena’s house in twenty-first century New York City.
Elena’s late father had been a renowned Egyptologist, and she immediately recognized us as ancient Egyptians. She was surprised we were speaking English. We explained that the prayer which had launched the magic boat also gave us the power to speak the language wherever we arrived.
She was also surprised that I, a cat, could talk and walk like a man. That would be explained later. Overjoyed at the prospect of excitement in her life, she invited us to stay with her.
Now the High Priest shares her bedroom, and I share this one with their child, who’s the reincarnation of the Pharaoh I loved thousands of years ago. He’s on the floor, playing contentedly with his building blocks. It’s hard to believe he’s already a year old.
Elena is reading and keeping an eye on him. “Wrappa-Hamen, are you recharging?” she asks, as she always does when she sees me basking in the sun. “You lazy old cat!”
“Lazy, yes. Old, not yet,” I reply, too drowsy to say more.
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