I consulted dozens of books while I was doing the research for this story. One that covers the vast span of ancient Egyptian history and fully explains the ways the gods and goddesses wove their way through all aspects of everyday life, from medicine to law, from birth to death, is Rosalie David’s Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt (New York: Penguin, 2003). A very fine overview of the gods and goddesses, including many minor ones and ones borrowed from other ancient cultures, which nicely focuses on indigenous Egyptian beliefs (rather than beliefs imported later from Greece or Rome) is George Hart’s A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses (London: Routledge, 1986). For those interested in reading more about the pyramids and Egyptian archaeology in general, a very fine book is Kathryn Bard’s An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2007). For many illustrations of Egyptian art, from wall carvings to etchings on amulets, with rich discussions, see Gay Robins’s The Art of Ancient Egypt (rev. ed., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008). For an overview of history and a geographical tour of ancient sites, with photos, beautiful illustrations, and frequent maps (this is truly armchair travel), I recommend John Baines and Jaromir Malek’s Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt (rev. ed., New York: Checkmark, 2000). A fine book on the literature of ancient Egypt (although most of the material in it comes from periods after the period in which Kepi’s story is set) is William Kelly Simpson’s The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, Stelae, Autobiographies, and Poetry (3rd ed., New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003). And for readers fascinated with ancient worlds in general, there are many marvelous books out there. One I love is Ancient Civilizations: The Illustrated Guide to Belief, Mythology, and Art (San Diego, Calif.: Thunder Bay, 2005), edited by Greg Woolf. Another is The Penguin Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations (New York: Penguin Books, 1989), edited by Arthur Cotterell. But I also strongly encourage you to browse the internet for photos of ancient Egyptian sites. I visited Egypt in the fall of 2010, as I was writing this book, and I found that by following up each day’s tramping around with internet searches, I often reinforced the experience by gaining closer looks at or bird’s-eye views of art and archaeological sites. Further, sometimes sites are closed to the public (either in general or at the specific moment you want to visit them), but photos on the internet can allow access.
One final word: While much research goes into historical fiction, in the end I am simply a writer of fiction, not an authority on Egyptian history. So when my sources disagreed on something, I was unable to make a scholarly judgment. I have not spent decades doing archaeological research; instead, I have worked primarily from secondary sources, although I have had the privilege of actually walking through many ancient sites. Therefore, in situations of controversy, I went with the option that helped me to create the best story I could. That’s the point of fiction, after all. And when one book offered something unusual (such as the fact that there’s evidence that some girls wore pigtails, though children in general had shaven heads), I jumped on that as an interesting detail. I try to ground my story in details so the reader is constantly feeling the time and place, which to me are as central to the story as any character. But historical fiction is just that—fiction.
Glossary
Note: Most Egyptian names have multiple transliterations and a variety of transcriptions into the Roman alphabet. Only a single version for each entry is given here.
AKHU—the part of a person that becomes a shining dot in the sky after they die
BABI—baboon-headed god
DJERTY—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of Tod
DUNAWY—winged god, often known by the Greek name Anti
HATHOR—goddess of the moon, dancing, and music
HATTIANS—ancient people of Anatolia (in Turkey)
HEKA—ram-headed god
HEM-NETJER—priest
HEM-NETJER TEPEY—high priest
HORUS—falcon-headed god
INEB HEDJ (“WHITE WALLS”)—city at the Nile delta, later known by the Greek name Memphis; the administrative capital of united Upper and Lower Egypt. It was to the south of where Cairo now stands, on the west bank.
INR-TI—ancient city, now known as the archeological site Naga el-Gherira.
KA—the part of a person that stays with the physical self after they die
KANESH—ancient name of the central eastern Anatolian town now known as Kültepe
MINOS—ancient name of the Aegean island now known as Crete
MUN-DIGAK—ancient city of what is now Afghanistan
NEKHBET—vulture-headed goddess who guards children and mothers
NEKHEB—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of el-Kab
NEKHEN—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of Kom el-Ahmar
NIT—goddess of war, often known by the Greek rendering Neith
NUBT—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of Naqada
RA—sun god
SEKER—god in charge of metalworking
SEKHMET—lion-headed goddess of battle
SET—god of storms and chaos
SOBEK—crocodile-headed god
TA-SENET—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of Esna
TEHUTI—ibis-headed god, often known by the Greek rendering Thoth
WA’eb—helper of the priest
WASET—ancient city, often known by the Greek name Thebes, and today the site of the modern city Luxor
WETJESET-HOR—ancient city, on the same site as the modern city of Edfu
YEBU—southernmost city of Egypt, on the same site as the modern city of Aswan
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Barry and Elena Furrow; Jenna Beucler; Sarah Flint; Nicholas Gaw; Libby Crissey; Katherine Delaney; Serafina Hilliard; Ben Hunter; Tim Jensen; Courtney Knerr; Lena Lofgren; David McKay; Daniel, Donna, Emily, Kelly, and Timothy McKenna; Tatum Murray; Abigail Raz; Jill Stengel; Kevin Stern; Nate Urban; Morgan Wesley; Ed Gaynor’s fourth-grade class at the Swarthmore-Rutledge school in fall 2008; and the one who asked me about Tinker Bell in the first place, my dear Brenda Bowen. Finally, a huge thank-you to Jordan Brown, who never tires, even when the task tests all our strength.
Note to the Reader
This story takes place in ancient Egypt around 2530 BCE, near the end of the rule of Pharaoh Khufu.
About the Author
Donna Jo Napoli is the author of more than fifty books for children, including many picture books and novels for tweens and teens. Some of her most popular books are ZEL, BEAST, UGLY, BOUND, and STONES IN WATER. Donna Jo lives in Pennsylvania with her family, You can visit her at www.donnajonapoli.com.
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Also by Donna Jo Napoli
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Hush
Ugly
Bound
Breath
Beast
Zel
The Prince of the Pond
Credits
Jacket art © 2011 by Mélanie Delon
Jacket design by Amy Ryan
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Donna Jo Napoli
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Napoli, Donna Jo, date
Lights on the Nile / Donna Jo Napoli
p. cm.
Summary: Ten-year-old Kepi, a young girl in ancie
nt Egypt, embarks on a journey to save her family when she is unexpectedly taken captive, along with the baby baboon she has rescued from a crocodile. An origin tale about fairies.
ISBN 978-0-06-166793-0 (trade bdg.)
[1. Kidnapping—Fiction. 2. Egypt—History—To 332 B.C.—Fiction. 3. Baboons—Fiction. 4. Fairies—Fiction.] I. Title
PZ7.N15Lh 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2011010179
CIP
AC
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11 12 13 14 15 CG/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780062093363
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