The author tells the history of strong women, many of whom come to Egypt for the climate to help with medical issues. While in Egypt, they visit excavations, to study and learn and return to Egypt to begin their own explorations. Women, in this time period, are often given tasks during excavations that have to do with copying/drawing some of the wall paintings; organizing and categorizing finds, keeping records.
. These women were rarely credited with the infinite work and record keeping that were used by male archeologists to further their work.
This book tells their story as it should have originally been told.

Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age
Author: Kathleen Sheppard
(This review is based on an ARC sent to me by NetGalley)
This is the never-before-told story of the women Egyptologists who paved the way of exploration in Egypt and created the basis for Egyptology.
During the so-called Golden Age of Exploration, there were women working and exploring before Howard Carter discovered the tomb of King Tut. Before men even conceived of claiming the story for themselves, women were working in Egypt to lay the groundwork for all future exploration.
Kathleen Sheppard brings the untold stories of these women back into this narrative. Sheppard begins with some of the earliest European women who ventured to Egypt as travelers: Amelia Edwards, Jenny Lane, and Marianne Brocklehurst. Their travelogues, diaries and maps chronicled a new world for the curious. In the vast desert, Maggie Benson, the first woman granted permission to excavate in Egypt, met Nettie Gourlay, the woman who became her lifelong companion. They battled issues of oppression and exclusion and, ultimately, are credited with excavating the Temple of Mut.
Emma Andrews' success as a patron and archaeologist helped to pave the way for Margaret Murray to teach. Margaret's work in the university led to the artists Amice Calverley's and Myrtle Broome's ability to work on site at Abydos, creating brilliant reproductions of tomb art, and to Kate Bradbury's and Caroline Ransom's leadership in critical Egyptological institutions.
The women ended up making a legacy for themselves and for the women who came after them and for the discipline of Egyptology.

As a big fan of the fictional Lady Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, I was really interested to find out about her real-life counterparts. While the majority of the women highlighted here were operating in administrative or scholarly roles rather than "active" on-site exploration activities, this really illustrated just how vital these women were to the advancement of Egyptology as a fledgling science. My favorite chapter was that of Caroline Ransom Williams, the first woman to get a PhD in Egyptology, and who was the "assistant" curator of the Met who oversaw the installation of the Temple of Perneb while the official (male) curator was off playing in the sand. Similarly, I enjoyed learning about Margaret Alice Murray, who came to University College London to study Egyptology, determined that she'd have to learn on her own because the existing instruction was inadequate, and very shortly ending up running the entire Egyptology department and developing its curriculum, while the so-called "head", Flinders Petrie, was off in Egypt. And of course it's the mens' names who persist through popular history, even though they could not have accomplished half of what they did without women rounding up funding and taking care of things at home. I appreciated the chance to learn more about the women behind the scenes who helped Egyptology become what it is.

This book just wasn't for me. I only finished it because I kept hoping it would get better and it just never did. I thought this would be a fascinating read and instead [for me], it was a jumbed, borderline [at times] incoherent story that seemed short of archeology/egyptology and more about money, travel [and where they stayed and what they wore etc], and relationships. It was so jumbled in parts that there were moments I wasn't sure just who was being talked about [not to mention stories of the women, some who had died in a previous chapter[s], wove through many of the "current" chapters, leading to some serious confusion on my part] and ended up just not really caring much anymore about the story.

The narrator for this book was also problematic [I was able to get the audio from Scribd] for me; her flat delivery of this book didn't add anything to an already problematic book [for me] and her constant mispronunciation of people and places just about drove me insane [and that is already a short trip y'all].

It is rare that I am so disappointed by a nonfiction book, but this was not what I was anticipating and just fell completely flat for me.

I was invited to read/review this book by the publisher, St. Martin' Press, and I thank them, the author and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
This was enjoyable and important, but slow for several reasons. One is the content. I like detail in my niche nonfiction, but the pacing of this book, explaining somethings repeatedly while in other places dropping a term that doesn't get fully explained for a few paragraphs or pages made it difficult to follow. The order was also confusing. The author seemed to be going chronologically until she didn't, which means I had to keep going back to check things.
This is still a good read. It's always nice to see people who have been overlooked get a bit of their due.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book.

Lucy Duff Gordon travelled to Egypt in the mid 1800s for her health. While there her letters to her husband and mother addressed the culture and customs. These were later compiled into her book Letters From Egypt, which inspired a number of women to travel and explore. Kathleen Sheppard uses the travelogues and journals of a number of those women, who were barred from training and education at home but made significant contributions to Egyptology. While history focuses on the men who made a name for themselves excavating Egypt’s treasures, Sheppard tells the stories of women like Amelia Edwards, known as the Godmother of Egyptology and a founder of the Egypt Exploration Society. The looting of Egypt’s treasures by both the men and women for museums and their private collections is also not ignored. This was not a quick read and is filled with the details of their personal lives as well as their achievements. Sheppard’s material is well researched and fascinating to read, making this a book that will appeal to history buffs and readers with an interest in Egypt. I would like to thank. EtGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this book.

This was a great read. I had never heard of any of these women and to read the amazing things they did. Wow. I was completely impressed by the things these women were amazing.

I highly recommend this book.

A survey of female Gilded Age Egyptologists that will better serve those very new to this corner of history than those coming in with a solid amount of background knowledge.

This is well-researched and the author’s enthusiasm for the material is notable, but I disagree with other reviewers who felt this was too academic, because to me it wasn’t academic enough.

Much has been published about most of the people mentioned in the book. There’s not much here that will be new to you if you’ve delved into Gilded Age Egyptology before. Amelia Edwards is a legend about whom much has been written. She herself published extensively and her work is widely available. Emma Andrews is also a very familiar figure if you’ve read up on Theodore Davis at all. Again, nothing found here is really anything new.

This also reads pretty slowly for narrative nonfiction, and needed a lot of editing, as it’s heavy on anecdotal biographical information. I have no real objection to extras like that being included to create a more complete portrait, but here it comes at the cost of the more academic information specific to the actual Egyptology and details of the exceptional scholarship and archaeological contributions made by these women.

This was a good idea that didn’t quite come together the way it needed to in order to be a successful academic offering on this subject. But if you’re just looking for a toe-dip into this era of archaeology, it’s a great primer on the women who were instrumental to the effort.

In this non-fiction book, Kathleen Sheppard brings to light the lives and work of the women who went to Egypt and worked there as archaeologists, fund raisers, artists, writers, mostly without recognition. These women traveled to Egypt and began the work there before the famous men arrived. So this is the other half of the story. Now I’m ready to go to Egypt myself!

I really appreciated what Sheppard was trying to do with this book by highlighting female egyptologists, but due to the lack of information available I think there was just too much filler of other details. While I think it’s important to understand know the women beyond their contributions, I just felt like there was too much of their personal lives and not enough dedicated to their work, until towards the end. I also would have loved to book to be chronological instead of by female Egyptologist! Overall it was interesting and I did learn a lot!

It is a detailed and timely study of the people who carried out Egyptology brings to light several names that are less known to the public. This book points out that some particular women did much of the work and got little of the publicity. The author brings the untold stories of women with some of the earliest European women who ventured to Egypt as travelers: Amelia Edwards, Jenny Lane, and Marianne Brocklehurst. Their travelogues, diaries and maps chronicled a new world for the curious. In the desert, Maggie Benson, the first woman granted permission to excavate in Egypt, met Nettie Gourlay, the woman who became her lifelong companion. They battled issues of oppression and exclusion and, ultimately, are credited with excavating the Temple of Mut. Artists came in to paint reproductions of tomb art as it was realized that the air would be corrosive to the art work done so many years ago. Women in the Valley of the Kings overturned the grand male narrative of Egyptian exploration

I enjoyed learning about these women who became involved with the study of Egyptology in the desert. It’s. Fascinating to learn about their work in the fields. It saddened me that they did.not get the credit due to them.

I am still boycotting St Martins Press so sadly I am not providing feedback on this book. I hope we can come to a resolution on the issues stated in the boycott sometime soon.

This was an interesting if slightly dense exploration of the impact of women in the late 19th and early 20th century in Egyptology. It felt a little more like mini-biographies; I'm not sure the through-line was well articulated but nonetheless an interested read.

Taking the angle of women in Eyptology rather than the men that are often focused on is what Sheppard wanted to accomplish. She does however the approach didn't seem to be cohesive in telling this "untold story" however well-researched it was. I was also probably annoyed that this is even a book because of the frustration with Brits and others raiding and excavating tombs and history from a location and culture they had nothing to do with. At the time it was acceptable and now it's not and there are ways that wrongs are trying to be righted, however I often can't get past this pillaging. Plus, the colonialism and classism enrage me. Sheppard addresses that and again, I applaud her want to talk about the women in this time period.

That aside, it wasn't truly a biography of the women and it also wasn't a scientific exploration of the work they did- it was an unbalanced mix of both and maybe a touch more academic than I was looking for as well. In my digital galley copy there was also no images or pictures of anything-- the women, the artifacts. It would have enhanced the story.

I have been interested in Egyptology since I was young. As a woman, it was eye opening to read how much was accomplished, yet so little formally written about their experiences and contributions throughout Egyptology ‘s history. I wish this shared experience was around when I was a young girl. I can imagine wanting to learn everything about all of them.

Thanks for letting me read this ARC!

The story of Egyptology itself often proves as dramatic and exciting as the people and places of ancient Egypt. And, as within the story of ancient Egypt, the contributions of many of those who advanced the field of Egyptology has been forgotten.

Kathleen Sheppard attempts to redress some of this neglect in Women in the Valley of the Kings: The Untold Story of Women Egyptologists in the Gilded Age.

She vividly narrates what we can know about eleven specific women who were active in some aspect of Egyptology from between the end of the American Civil War and World War II (ca. 1869-1941): Amelia Edwards, Marianne Brocklehurst, Maggie Brunson, Nettie Gourlay, Emma Andrews, Margaret Alice Murray, Kate Griffith, Emily Paterson, Myrtle Broome, Amice Calverly, and Caroline Ransom Williams.

When I was younger I hoped to pursue Egyptology and have ever since kept abreast of new discoveries and the state of Egyptological discourse; I was certainly aware of many of the male characters found in this book like Gaston Maspero, Flinders Petrie, Theodore Davis, Howard Carter, and the like. James Henry Breasted came from my hometown. A couple of the names of the women might have been mentioned here or there, but very little in previous literature spoke much of them.

But just because little was written did not mean they did little. As the author sets forth, these women helped kickstart and run the Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society), led archaeological digs and art preservation initiatives in their own right, and helped actively coordinate and document significant finds. Without Emma Andrews, for instance, we know much less about the significant tombs Theodore Davis’ teams uncovered. Margaret Alice Murray was left to basically organize and teach Egyptology at University College London, and many of the luminaries of Egyptology gained their initial instruction from her. Caroline Ransom Williams was the best educated, most highly competent Egyptologist in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, was single-handedly responsible for the curation of much of what passes for the Egyptological section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a highly regarded associate of James Henry Breasted.

The author did well at showing both dimensions of these women: they were all Westerners working as part of a colonial project, but as women more was expected of them not only from the men but also from the Egyptian communities. Often what might be known about the other group passed over in silence - the Egyptian workers who did the actual digging and exploration for the Westerners - comes from the journals and reports of these women.

The author’s work proves very useful in making sure the stories of these women and their contributions to Egyptology are remembered and recognized. Hopefully they will start getting their due.

Absolutely engrossing history of Gilded Age female Egyptologists who weren’t just contemporaries of their male counterparts, but often their betters. A feminist unearthing of the reality of intrepid and brilliant women exploring and chronicling the ancient world through the end of colonial Egypt. I was totally fascinated. With nods to the problematic reality of British, American and even French domination of the region and its secrets, it also maintains the romance of the discovery in which these pioneers of science and gender equality played a part. Fascinating for lovers of Egyptology, the Gilded Age, and feminist history.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy. These opinions are my own.

So many names, so many confusing stories. I could not finish this book. I really wanted to like it, but it was dry and not well written. Too bad becaue it had real potential I thought.

I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of this title as I've been interested in ancient Egyptian culture since childhood and thought this would provide further insight into relics unearthed by those not often found in most textbooks. Sadly it didn't really work for me. As other reviewers have shared, it felt a bit clunky, without a clear narrative. I'd also note that it wouldn't necessarily be a title for anyone who wasn't somewhat familiar with modern Egyptology.

I did appreciate the author's coverage of the ransacking and theft of ancient artifacts by Europeans, and then Americans, during this period, and she doesn't shy away from acknowledging these women were in some ways complicit. Further, she includes Egyptians, a group largely left out of history books in favor of white men, who worked alongside these women to learn more about their own ancient culture.

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review.

I was excited to read this book for a few reasons: I love to learn new things, it was about women at the turn of the century and because it was about archeology, which I have always found fascinating.

Women in the Valley of Kings is well researched and when reading it, I could see how the topic was loved by Sheppard. Sheppard was able to transport me to the late 1800's and early 1900's Egypt and the discoveries that were made. I found it fascinating how they copied some of the wall paintings. Even how they were able to take so much from the tombs with really not a whole lot of trouble.

Though the book is well researched, I have to say at times it felt like a textbook. So much information was crammed into it. The flow of the book wasn't very good to me, either. I don't know if I am the only one that felt that way or not. I think if Sheppard would have had a chapter for each woman it would have been better. She combined some women together, but that may have been because they worked at sites together. Overall, my enjoyment outweighed my bad feelings, so I am giving it 3⭐.

Published July 16, 2023

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Sheppard for the E-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

😊 Happy Reading 😊

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