<B>Warning: This book is meant for readers who are 18+ due to mature content.</b>

I strongly caution you to heed the "mature content" warning above. Themes in this book regarding women's bodily autonomy are not handled with 21st-century cultural norms in mind. Given how bad things still are, transpose them back seventy-plus years, put them in a milieu where a woman was literal chattel, and you should get with the program.

The prose is lush, the topic of Egypt's beauty is evoked in all of one's senses, and there will never be a day when a quest narrative...Isis? Osiris? the bells ringing yet?...doesn't have its own, usually compelling, appeal. There is nothing in here to cause readers of the <I>Fifty Shades</i> narratives to blanch, nor are the gender politics noticeably more offensive than <I>Twilight</i> contains. It is an historical novel, it deals with sexual mores that have changed, and the author is nearing one hundred years old...the topic of Othering would be a tough one to explain, and based on this book, if that's a concern for you this is not your best book choice.

Forewarned? Very well. For the Wilbur Smith reader who wants something extra, here's you a book.

Mother Nile. The description was intriguing enough to capture my interest. Mother makes a deathbed confession to her son that he has a sister, who because of circumstances at the time had to be left behind in Egypt.
Son takes the confession to mean that he has to go find his sister...

The plot and characters are not fully developed, there was enough mystery for me to stay interested enough to finish the book. However the ending was very anticlimactic, I was so disappointed after managing to keep up with all the running around and feeble attempts to hide/escape persecutors... ...for that ending.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book rubbed me the wrong way for many reasons. The characters were not compelling and barely likable. The violence and sex were gratuitous, distracting and borderline fetishing. The plot was not believable and just not very well developed. I was so disappointed because I absolutely loved Target Churchill and had very high expectations for another historical thriller by this author. What a shocking let down.