By The Gods Beloved

Baroness Orczy

Jun 2014 · House of Stratus

About this ebook

Mark and Hugh are school friends. Mark has visited Hugh’s house, whose father is an archaeologist and Egyptologist and where there is an odd museum, complete with mummies. One day, Mark receives word from his friend to 'Come at once if you can'. He finds Hugh has taken over his father’s work and is in possession of a secret encoded papyrus that is thousands of years old. He has also discovered that the descendants of ancient pharaohs are still living in the Libyan Desert. The two friends set out at once for Egypt. Their journey involves incredible adventures, strange sights, a beautiful princess and great dangers.

About the author

Baroness Orczy was born in Hungary in 1865, the daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a landed aristocrat and well-known composer and conductor. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and Paris, where she was educated. She studied art in London and exhibited work in the Royal Academy. She married Montagu Barstow and together they worked as illustrators and jointly published an edition of Hungarian folk tales. Orczy became famous in 1905 with the publication of The Scarlet Pimpernel (originally a play co-written with her husband). Its background was the French Revolution and its swashbuckling hero, Sir Percy Blakeney, was to prove immensely popular. Sequel books followed and film and TV versions were later made. Orczy also wrote detective stories which still prove popular and are equally acclaimed within this genre. She died in 1947.