100 books like Bird in a Snare

Nur Jahan was one of the great queens of India, but I had never learned about her even in my studies at university.

I felt absolutely transported into her life, ambitions, and loves through this riveting novel that is so poetic you’ll want to read it in your bath with the door locked and a candle lit. This book feels like a window into the life of a woman you wish was your mother, your sister, your best friend.

It’s the first of the trilogy, and a magnificent journey into ancient India and the history of the Taj Mahal.

Set in the US in the late 70s, this book was one I went back and forth on if it fit my criteria of being a lesser-known locale (or possibly even historical fiction, since the 60s and 70s are just now starting to hit that cut-off). The world it presents—life in a traveling carnival during the tail end of the freakshow era—was so interesting, though, I felt I had to slip it in. On the run from a terrible secret, the protagonist joins the carnival as their “fat lady” act in the freakshow… and things are just as crazy (and yet somehow so emotionally grounded?) as that premise makes it sound. I’d definitely suggest giving it a read. 

Is this a children’s book? Yes. Yes, it is. Since ten-year-old me can still remember reading it, however, (particularly a paragraph about how special it was to be able to read and write in sixth-century China—which blew ten-year-old me’s mind) it’s still going on the list. Lady of Ch’iao Kuo is also one of the Scholastic Royal Diaries series, which I devoured as a younger reader, and is fabulous as a whole. It includes both well-known (another Elizabeth I book? Yep) and more obscure historical figures, all written about in a way that allows children to connect to them. Highly recommended for both the young and young at heart!

I admit, Baltasar and Blimunda is not the type of historical fiction I generally pick up (a more distanced narrative voice plus magical realism doesn’t tend to be my normal pick for pleasure reading) but I felt I needed to read at least one novel set in 18th century Portugal before trying to write my own set there. Something by a Portuguese author as well seemed entirely the way to go. So, I picked this up, and am really glad I did. 

Royal Women of Amarna is the catalog of an exhibition of many years ago, but used copies are still available, and it contains some of the most fascinating images and commentary on the ravishing sculptures of women (and some men) from the world of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

Introductory material provides context, but the heart of the book is in four chapters written by a longtime curator at the Metropolitan Museum NYC, now emerita. They cover various aspects of portraiture discussing the startling changes in the representation of the human figure in the Amarna period (ca. 1353-1336 BCE), the workshop of the sculptor Thutmose, from which Nefertiti’s iconic bust was recovered, and other aspects of the art and religion of the era.

When I first pitched my book to my agent, he recommended I read this novel, as it was his favorite novel written about ancient Egypt.

I took his advice and was immediately drawn into Ake Akhenaten's story. I’ve long been fascinated by this particular Pharaoh for many reasons, but mostly because he dared to challenge the priestly class.

This is a novel that sweeps you right into the hot sands of his city and makes you long to have been there, in the court, as he struggled to bring his god, Aten, to his people.

A historian, lecturer, researcher, and author, Ahmed Osman is a British Egyptologist born in Cairo who published three books: Stranger in the Valley of the Kings (1987), Moses: Pharaoh of Egypt (1990) and The House of the Messiah (1992) says that Tut-Ankh-Amun had a very similar “story” to Jesus.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead contains the Ancient Egyptian Negative Confessions that were originally written on Temple walls and as the burial texts, and were "I have not stolen...", "I have not killed", etc., a letter written to Gods, engraved on Temples walls and prepared as Papyruses 2,000 BC and were equal to "Thou shalt not", the Ten Commandments of Jewish and Christian ethics, later perceived as divine revelation. The Negative Confession is accompanied by a list of protective sounds and symbols that kept souls safe from demons. Just for the history lovers, the timeline of these is the following:… show more.

I’m recommending this 1st book because it really is the perfect introduction to ancient Egypt and its unique landscape. Its accessible format features excellent maps which each have a theme to best explain the way Egypt’s distinct environment directly influenced its culture, its history, and its relationship with the rest of the ancient world.

Barry Kemp’s The City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti: Amarna and its People takes full advantage of the best discernible city plan in all of ancient Egyptian history.

Using it, he presents the ancient city with both its glories and its warts, at just the time that Egyptian culture itself was undergoing a momentous disruption—or was it a transformation?—intellectually, religiously, and in the arts. His archaeological expertise brings striking insights, and abundant illustrations show us the city from multiple perspectives.

Line drawings from Amarnan tombs and temples bring genuine ancient Egyptian voices into the discussion. Kemp’s anthropological grounding, his straightforward but eloquent prose, and his sympathy for the ancients in their everyday lives make this a book you can almost inhabit yourself.

Before Tut, there was Akhenaten. Fashionable nineteenth-century folks went gaga for this mysterious “heretic pharaoh” who tried to overthrow the gods of ancient Egypt. And because we know so little about him, everyone could make him anything they liked! As a fan of mythology, I found it incredible to watch how people evolved their own stories about this strange figure – seeing him as homosexual, heterosexual, Christian, pagan, and more. And it gives us a clue about the origin of the “curse” stories, as we see Akhenaten himself condemned by his own people and vanishing into history.