The Visitors (79 page)
In January 2013, the BBC reported these developments and canvassed the views of tourists visiting the Valley of the Kings. They proved suspicious of the replica proposal; they understood the need for it, but had not come all the way to Egypt, they said, to view a facsimile: what they wanted to see was – ‘the real thing’. At the time of writing (June 2013), they can still do so. Tutankhamun’s tomb remains open and the replica tomb is in storage at the European Union Embassy in Cairo.
This book is a novel. It has a framework and core that is fictional, but the chapters that relate to Egyptian archaeology 1922–32 and to Saranac Lake in the 1930s are based on fact and on the documented lives of real people: they are as accurate historically as I have been able to make them. When researching those parts of the book, I received tireless assistance from many sources, to whom I owe a great deal. Some of those who assisted me have asked to remain anonymous: they know who they are, and I thank them. I am grateful to the following:
The Griffith Institute, University of Oxford, is the single greatest source for material relating to the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb, and to the events that preceded and followed its discovery; its archives include Howard Carter’s diaries, correspondence, maps, autobiographical sketches and journals, together with the photographs of Harry Burton; there is rich material from other Egyptologists who witnessed or were involved in the work on Tutankhamun’s tomb. I am deeply grateful to Dr Jaromir Malek, keeper of the archive, and to Elizabeth Fleming, archivist, for generous assistance with the Howard Carter, Percy Newberry and Sir Alan Gardiner papers.
For assistance with research into Herbert Winlock and his family, I am indebted to the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, whose archives proved to contain Winlock letters and diaries never previously examined. I thank Andrea Cronin, librarian, for the hard work she undertook in locating them.
I am grateful to Diane Pierce-Williams, archivist, Cox Library, Milton Academy, Massachusetts, and Pam Rodman, registrar, Milton Academy, both of whom gave very generously of their time and provided significant information regarding Frances Winlock’s later years.
The sections of the novel that relate to Saranac Lake could not have been written without access to the vast and fascinating archives of Historic Saranac Lake: they document the history of the town, its cure cottages, patients, medical records and treatment regimes in meticulous detail. I’m grateful to Amy Catania, executive director, Historic Saranac Lake, to Kareen Tyler, town clerk, Saranac Lake, and to Michelle Tucker, curator, Adirondack Research Room, Saranac Lake, for their guidance to the town and its records.
In a book much concerned with tombs, my thanks for assistance with one in particular: I’m indebted to Meg Winslow, curator of historical collections, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grateful to Caroline Loughlin, archivist, for the information she helped uncover.
My thanks must also go to the Egyptian Exploration Society, London; to the staff of the London Library; and to Rosalind Berwald, who owns and is the guardian of the last surviving volume of Minnie Burton’s diaries.
My thanks to Joe Alexander, Tom Allardyce, Beata Allen, Clarissa Ballantyne, Julian Barnes, Freddy Bywater, Carmen Callil, Caroline Dawnay, Yasin El Haddad, Dan Ellis, Angus Gough, Louise Gravellier, Mimi Howard, Stephen Kidd, Ben and Natasha Marlow, Hugh Paige, Anthony Quinn, Frank Raccano, Gabrielle Rourke, Ronald Stern, Anna Webber, Nicholas Weir, Emily Wyatt and Ahmed Zaky: whether they helped with details or suggestions or brickbats, I’m grateful.
My thanks to my editor at Abacus, publishing director Clare Smith, to Ursula Mackenzie, CEO, Little Brown, and to my agent, Sarah Ballard of United Agents, for their input and encouragement. Last, my gratitude to Alan Howard. He discussed the minutiae of this book
ad infinitum
for more than two years – a long time to spend in the company of the long-dead. I thank him for his insight and imagination; also for his patience, which never wavered.
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Breasted, Charles, Pioneer of the Past. The Story of James H. Breasted (Charles Scribner’s Sons, London, 1948)
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Online
[
www.griffith.ox.ac.uk
] – Griffith Institute, Oxford; online resources include many of Howard Carter’s papers and Harry Burton’s photographs recording the work on Tutankhamun’s tomb
[
www.metmuseum.org
] – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
[
www.thebanmappingproject.com
] – Database for the Valley of the Kings and the Theban Necropolis
[
www.ees.ac.uk
] – The Egypt Exploration Society
[
www.nicholasreeves.com
] – The Valley of the Kings and Tutankhamun’s tomb; Egyptology
[
www.britishmuseum.org
] – The British Museum
[
www.oi.uchicago.edu
] – The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
[
www.tawy.nl
] – The history of dig houses in Egypt
[
www.hsl.wikispot.org
] – The online archives of Saranac Lake
[
www.getty.edu
] – The Getty Conservation Institute
[
www.factum-arte.com
] – Factum Arte, creators of the Tutankhamun replica tomb
[
www.sca.egypt.org
] – The Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt; information on the current state of the Valley of the Kings and its tombs, including visitor information
