The Visitors: A Novel

The Visitors: A Novel by Sally Beauman

Read February 2023 

I was in the mood for one of those long meandering books like a good Rosamunde Pilcher or Maeve Binchy.  But since I have pretty much read all of those, I pulled this one out.  It rose to the top of my selections based entirely on its (mostly) Egypt locale.  I really did enjoy this book a lot, but admit that I took my time reading it.  I even stopped halfway through to finish up my other book club books by their deadlines.  But I really enjoyed all the details surrounding the excavation of King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.  Having visited that site (and others in Egypt) myself, I could truly picture the area and feel the heat and smell the Nile.  

This book spans the globe with action taking place in England, Egypt and even the US.  The time period of 1922 through the war years provided the ‘epic’ part of the read (that I do enjoy).  :)  And I was fascinated by the character development.  I loved Lucy’s spunk and determination in spite of all odds. 

Coming back to update 3/13/23 - I am liking this book more and more after finishing it.  I keep thinking about it and realize it was a very good book.  

Update again on 7-26-23 - Definitely giving this book a 5.  I just read The Collector’s Daughter based on the life of Eve Carnavon and was so glad I had read The Visitors - it certainly gave more depth to the current book. 

Notes and Highlights - 

bit late, you’ll say – but better late than never, don’t you agree? I always wanted to be a writer – I wrote poems as a girl, you know, and my, oh my, how I fussed over the scansion and the rhymes! Then, somehow, I lost the habit, and all my splendid ambitions went underground. Never, never let that happen to you, Lucy, dear . .

never attempt to come between two people who love one another. Anyone who does that will always and inevitably lose.’

‘How hard it is, being old, too many memories,’

Times change, of course, and what we value – the way we value, alters. How do we decide this is worthless, and that is a treasure? Unless the object concerned is of gold, of course, whose value never declines, whose glitter can never be resisted.