The Curse of the Tomb

Lady Evelyn Herbert, the beautiful and popular daughter of Lord Carnarvon, was supposed to make an advantageous marriage above all else. But she longed for something different. She left the world of balls and arranged marriages and, together with her father, set out into the Egyptian desert in the hope of becoming an archaeologist and working alongside Howard Carter. That dream came true for her.

Egypt gave her one love and took another from her. The first was her future husband, the second her beloved father. In 1922, she experienced, in her own words, “the most wonderful moment of my life” when she was the first to enter the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamun. From that moment on, however, her life took a darker turn. The series of tragedies that followed in her circle did not break her, but it did give rise to the myth of the pharaoh's curse, which followed her in various forms throughout her life.

After suffering a stroke in 1972, an elderly Eve reminisces about the events of her youth. She is partly helped in this by an Egyptian archaeologist who is investigating the fate of artefacts from Tutankhamun's tomb. But what if her questions are not as innocent as they seem? Can her loving husband protect Eve until the very end?

Published in a translation by Dina Podzimková.