The Third Translation

January 24, 2005
Walter Rothschild, a middle-aged Egyptologist at the British Museum, has abandoned his wife and child to spend his time obsessively poring over the dusty inscriptions of a dead civilization. He is forced to reconnect with life when he is seduced by a mysterious woman who then steals an ancient papyrus containing the key to the enigmatic hieroglyphics of the Stela of Paser. The conspiracy trail leads Walter to a modern-day cult of the Egyptian sun god, Aten, protected by a menacing team of pro wrestlers. In Bondurant's ambitious debut, a sprawling picaresque is infused with mythic resonance by linking it to ancient Egyptian literature and mythology and to concepts in avant-garde physics, including black holes, general relativity and string theory. The author has an inventive imagination and an ardent feel for place; much of the book is a prose poem to London's squalid demimonde. Though some may feel that Bondurant's erudition and philosophical engagement ("the only way... to make sense of the magnitude of the time and the space and the span of humanity on earth is to grasp onto the one thing that gives you a clear look") slow the pace of his mystery, the success of previous literary novels of suspense bodes very well for this one. Agent, Alex Glass. (Apr. 6)

Forecast:
A big push by Hyperion should give this a shot at major sales, though it's not the only mysteries-of-the-ancient-world thriller in the running (in this issue, see also
The Geographer's Library, p. 222).

February 15, 2005
A real-life relic rests at the heart of this astute fictional debut set in modern-day England. The British Museum has hired American Egyptologist William Rothschild to solve the riddle of the Stela of Paser, an ancient Egyptian funerary stone whose inscriptions have baffled scholars for centuries. Rothschild has only a handful of days remaining to complete his assignment (to render the mysterious third translation alluded to on the actual artifact) when a risky romantic rendezvous puts his scholarly pursuit on hold. After the passionate interlude--which takes place after-hours in a museum gallery housing Egyptian antiquities--Rothschild's lover steals an ancient papyrus document and disappears. His quest for the missing document, which could prove pivotal in his research, leads to a curious cult replete with professional wrestlers; solemn, saffron-robed men; and a sexually ambiguous revolutionary in high-heeled boots. First-time novelist Bondurant became fascinated by the Stela of Paser while working at the British Museum. His extensive research has paid off in a literary page-turner whose characters are as compelling and complex as the Stela itself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)