EARLY BIRD BOOK CLUB: Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson

Let's discuss the non-fiction title: Empress of the Nile : the Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples From Destruction by Lynne Olson. Olson, who has written extensively about WWII,  spotlights a pioneering French female Egyptologist. Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt fell in love with Egypt's rich history and wealth of archaeological treasures at a young age, prompting her to study the subject at the Louvre in the 1930s, a time when women pursuing archaeology was unheard of. During WWII, she bravely joined the Resistance and helped smuggle messages out of Vichy-controlled France. In the late 1950s, she embarked on what would be her most monumental achievement, leading an international coalition to move several ancient temples in Nubia out of the way of the flooding that would be brought about by the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile. The most daunting of these projects was a herculean effort to shift the gigantic monuments of the temple Abu Simbel, which required carefully breaking up the large statues to relocate them. The epic project involved funding and labor from multiple countries. Desroches-Noblecourt didn't rest on her laurels after this decade-long undertaking; she continued to excavate, rediscover tombs, and publish for the rest of her life. Olson provides a gripping account of an extraordinary life. -BOOKLIST Review

A Limited number of copies of this book are available at to pick up at Tates Creek Branch Library or you can reserve a copy today. This group welcomes everyone.