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archeological digs, book excerpt from The Price of Glory, Caroline Warfield, Egypt, historical romance, The Price of Glory, Wednesday Writers
Welcome to Wednesday Writers! Today’s guest is historical romance author Caroline Warfield with an excerpt of her early Victorian Historical Romance, The Price of Glory, set in Egypt 1839-1840. Personally, stories set in this time era and location have always fascinated me. I suppose it’s because as a teen I watched a lot of Hollywood movies with my mother that had to do with the archeological digs in Egypt. So, without any further rambling from me, lets welcome Caroline and get on with the reading of her book excerpt.
The Price of Glory
Richard Mallet comes to Egypt with dreams of academic glory. He will be the one to unravel the secrets of the ancient Kushite language. Armed with license to dig, he sets out for Meroë, where the Blue Nile meets the White. He has no room in his life for dalliance or entanglements, and he certainly doesn’t expect to face insurrection and unrest.
Analiese Cloutier seeks no glory—only the eradication of disease among the women and children of Khartoum. She has no interest whatsoever in romantic nonsense and will not allow notions about a lady’s proper role to interfere with her work. She doesn’t expect to have that work manipulated for political purposes.
Neither expects to be enchanted by the amorous power of moonlight in the ruins of Karnak, or to be forced to marry before they can escape revolution. Will their flight north take them safely to Cairo? If it does, can they build something real out of their shattered dreams?
Excerpt: the Journey Begins
The sight of Anastasie Cloutier climbing onto the boat caused Richard’s heart to stutter. When Bashkim introduced Dr. Navarre, he had referred vaguely to the rest of a medical party. Richard recalled Navarre from dinner with Cloutier Bey, but it never occurred to him the medical party might include Cloutier’s daughter.
A jolt of pleasure cut through him at the surprising turn of events, but the sight of her hakima garb boded ill for frivolity. ‘Medical Party’ sounded like business. For Anastasie Cloutier this would be no pleasure cruise.
We’ll have that in common then, he thought, rubbing his chin. At least the chances of interesting conversation during the journey have improved.
A thrill vibrated through him when the dahabiya finally began to move. He had come to one of those moments that divided a life between the time before and what happened after. Whatever the outcome, this moment marked a beginning.
He pushed away from the railing and headed in the direction of Anastasie Cloutier, eager to share his enthusiasm with someone, only to see a servant usher her and the woman with her behind the veils that marked off an enclosure.
“The women’s area,” Ahmed murmured, coming up the aft stairway to stand by Richard. He looked irritated. “Our gear is well packed, but a gang of boys has taken up residence at the end of the cargo barge. The little hooligans will cause mayhem.”
“Our men are there as well?”
“Of course. They know what to watch.”
He shrugged. “But eight weeks is a long time.” Dreadful thought. It almost upended his elation at being on his way at last. “Will it really take that long?”
“Allah permitting. Two thousand miles,” Ahmed said, raising an eyebrow at his employer. “Upriver. The wind will be with us, the current not.”
“Point taken. You did say you know how to play chess, did you not?” The two men grinned at each other in perfect accord. Khalil’s cousin had proven to be intelligent as well as efficient, educated as well as skilled. He promised to be an excellent tour guide as well.
Want to read more? You can find The Price of Glory here:
About the Author
Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.
You can find me on my website:
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Catherine Castle 