The pyramids of Giza have stood for more than four thousand years, fascinating generations around the world. We think of the pyramids as mysteries, but the stones, hieroglyphs, landscape, and even layers of sand and debris around them hold stories. In Giza and the Pyramids: The Definitive History, two of the world’s most eminent Egyptologists, Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, provide their unique insights based on more than four decades of excavating and studying the site.
يبدو أن أحداث الكتاب قد وقعت قرابة عام 1825؛ إذ تشير الآنسة مونفلاذرز إلى وفاة اللورد بايرون في الفصل 29، الذي تُوفّي في 19 أبريل من عام 1824. تحكم هيئة التحقيق (على نحو خاطئ) بأن كويلب قد أقدم على الانتحار، ولذلك تأمر بدفن جثّته على مفترق طرق مع غرز وتد في قلبه؛ الممارسة التي حُظرت في عام 1832. يخشى جدّ نيل أن يرسلوه إلى مستشفى للأمراض العقلية نتيجةَ انهياره، إذ يخاف من أن يقيّدوه بالسلاسل إلى جدار ويجلدوه؛ الإجراء الذي عُطّل منذ عام 1830. يُوصف المحامي السيّد براس على أنّه «أحد محامي صاحبة الجلالة» [تكذية] في الفصل 13، أي في عهد الملكة فيكتوريا التي بدأت فترة حكمها في عام 1837. اعتُبر هذا الأمر بمثابة زلّة قلم، وذلك بعد النظر إلى جميع الأدلة الأخرى؛ بما في ذلك اتّهام كيت خلال محاكمته بالعمل ضدّ «سلام مولانا المُفدّى الملك» (في إشارة إلى الملك جورج الرابع).
At the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Alexandria was a small backwater with a population of less than five thousand. Then in 1801 Muhammad Ali arrived in Egypt as second‐in‐command of an Albanian contingent, part of an Ottoman force sent to re‐occupy the country after Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion in 1798. By 1805, Ali had become ruler of Egypt and in a short time, he built a new modern cosmopolitan Alexandria―a thriving commercial hub and court city, the country’s unofficial capital, and home to a large number of immigrants from the surrounding Mediterranean. Alexandrea ad Ægyptum, the old Latin adage meaning “Alexandria by Egypt,” re‐emerged, underlining Alexandria’s singular separateness.
Foreign dominance was further reinforced by British colonialism beginning in 1882, until 26 July 1956, when, from the parapet of the Bourse on Muhammad Ali Square in Alexandria, Gamal Abd al-Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal. As the city’s sizeable foreign community left, following the Suez War then through waves of nationalization, the international Alexandria ceased to exist. This beautifully illustrated anthology brings together the work of contemporaneous writers who witnessed the stages of Alexandria’s dramatic rise and growth during the nineteenth and early- to mid-twentieth centuries.
(2016) The owner of a seaside villa is plagued by strange feelings about its past…
Soon after Gwenda moved into her new home, odd things started to happen. Despite her best efforts to modernise the house, she only succeeded in dredging up its past. Worse, she felt an irrational sense of terror every time she climbed the stairs…
In fear, Gwenda turned to Miss Marple to exorcise her ghosts. Between them, they were to solve a ‘perfect’ crime committed many years before.
(2017) A healthy young man dies in his sleep, despite the ringing of eight separate alarm clocks…
Gerry Wade had proved himself to be a champion sleeper; so the other house guests decided to play a practical joke on him. Eight alarm clocks were set to go off, one after the other, starting at 6.30 a.m. But when morning arrived, one clock was missing and the prank had backfired with tragic consequences.
For Jimmy Thesiger in particular, the words ‘Seven Dials’ were to take on a new and chilling significance…
(2016) Captain Hastings recounts 18 of Poirot’s early cases from the days before he was famous…
Hercule Poirot delighted in telling people that he was probably the best detective in the world. So turning back the clock to trace eighteen of the cases which helped establish his professional reputation was always going to be a fascinating experience. With his career still in its formative years, the panache with which Hercule Poirot could solve even the most puzzling mystery is obvious.
Chronicled by his friend Captain Hastings, these eighteen early cases – from theft and robbery to kidnapping and murder – were all guaranteed to test Poirot’s soon-to-be-famous ‘little grey cells’ to their absolute limit.
(2013) Agatha Christie’s ingenious murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.
Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, yet there were five other suspects: Philip Blake (the stockbroker) who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home; Elsa Greer (the three-time divorcee) who had roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess) who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister) who cried ‘wee wee wee’ all the way home.
It is sixteen years later, but Hercule Poirot just can’t get that nursery rhyme out of his mind…
Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.
Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside.
Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again.
