Children of the Storm

Children of the Storm
First edition cover for Children of the Storm
Author(s)	Elizabeth Peters
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Amelia Peabody mysteries
Genre(s)	Mystery, Historical novel
Publisher	William Morrow
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	xv, 400 pp
ISBN	0-06-621476-9
OCLC Number	51042729
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 21
LC Classification	PS3563.E747 C48 2003
Preceded by	The Golden One
Followed by	Guardian of the Horizon

Children of the Storm (2003) is the 15th in a series of mystery novels, written by Elizabeth Peters and featuring fictional sleuth and archaeologist Amelia Peabody.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title is an excerpt from an ancient Egyptian horoscope:

"The day of the children of the storm. Very dangerous. Do not go on the water this day."^{[citation needed]}

Plot summary

The 1919 season opens with the Vandergelts and Emersons packing the God's Wives treasures found (in the previous book) for Cyrus Vandergelt by his adopted son Bertie. Just before the Service d'Antiquités representative comes to inspect their work, several items disappear together with the conservator Cyrus had hired on Sethos's recommendation. The conservator's skeleton is found later in the desert, without the objects.

Meanwhile, the Emersons meet up with a Justin FitzRoyce, a young person with a strange mental malady, and his companion, who turns out to be Maryam, daughter of Sethos, fallen on hard times. Amelia tries to befriend Maryam but finds that there is more to her and Justin's relationship than meets the eye.

Along the way, the Emerson family is dogged by a series of mysterious events ranging from strange pranks to near-fatal accidents.

As the head of the Service arrives to take possession of the treasure for transport to Cairo, Nefret is captured by the criminal gang intent on stealing the treasure, as is Emerson when he impetuously comes to rescue her. The final chase scene has Amelia, Rameses, Sethos, Selim, Daoud, Cyrus, Walter, and Bertie racing down-river armed to the teeth to rescue Nefret and Emerson, and is unlike any other scene in the Amelia series.

Characters in "Children of the Storm"

This book is notable in that the entire Emerson clan is present: Professor and Amelia Emerson, Walter and Evelyn Emerson, Ramses and Nefret Emerson and their children David John and Charla, Sennia Emerson, David and Lia Todros and their children Dolly and Evie, Sethos, and Maryam. It is also in this book that Sethos finally reveals his given name (Seth), to Evelyn.

See also

Novels portal

• List of characters in the Amelia Peabody series