Mara, Daughter of the Nile

Mara, Daughter of the Nile
Author(s)	Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Cover artist	Derek James
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Historical fiction
Publisher	Coward McCann
Publication date	1953
Pages	279
ISBN	ISBN 0-140-31929-8

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw is a historical fiction children's book. It follows Mara, a young Egyptian girl who takes up a dangerous job as a double spy between two different masters.

Characters

Mara is the slave girl desperate to achieve freedom, fluent and literate in Egyptian and Babylonian, cunning and witty. She is fiercely independent, and works for her own gain. Mara becomes a double agent. In her career as a double agent, she becomes a translator to Babylonian princess, Inanni.

Lord Sheftu is the leader of the rebellion, but secretly so. In public he is loyal to Pharaoh Hatshepsut, but he is fighting for Thutmose's claim under the guise of Sashai the scribe.

Nekonkh is the captain of the Silver Beetle, who becomes one of Sheftu's loyal supporters but also one of Mara's good friends.

Inanni is the Babylonian princess sent to marry Thutmose by Hatshepsut and Mara's one true friend.

Thutmose III is the prince, very cunning, friend of Lord Sheftu, wants to overthrow Hatshepsut.

Lord Nahereh is brother of Senmut, spy for Pharaoh Hatshepsut, Mara's new master after buying her in Menfe.

Count Senmut is the architect, stands the closest to Pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Queen Hatshepsut is the pharaoh. She is Thutmose's step-sister.

Khofra is a famous general, leads the army of the rebellion.

Zasha is Mara's ruthless former master in Menfe.

Reshed is a young sentry who allows Mara to pass through the gates and he is nice enough to let her go through after getting a bargain with her.

Sahure is the juggler at the inn who betrays the rebels to the Queen.

Plot

Living in ancient Egypt, Mara is a slave under the rule of Queen Hatshepsut, living(or surviving) in Menfe. Mara is not like other slaves; she can read and write, as well as speak the language of Babylonian. She also, oddly enough, has bright blue eyes. Struggling daily to find a way out of her wretched life as a slave Mara takes secret visits to the marketplace, behind her cruel master's back. On one such trip, Mara is observed by two men, Nahereh and Sheftu, who both note her intelligence.

The first man, Nahereh, appears shortly afterwards to buy her from her master and offers Mara an escape from her life: if she will serve him and the Queen as a spy and accomplish her mission, he promises her riches and freedom, but death, if she is found out. Mara accepts the task and she spies for the queen.

The second man, Sheftu, appears on a boat as she makes her way to the golden palace of pharoh in Thebes to spy. He thinks that Mara is only a runaway slave, nothing else. He tells her that he will not turn her in as long as she will deliver a message to Thutmose and work for him as a messenger to carry plans for coming rebellion.

Mara enjoys her life at court so much that she decides to play both sides. She carries messages for Sheftu and throws small bits of information to her new master, Lord Nahereh. But unwillingly she finds herself tangled more and more in her own web, as she discovers that she is falling in love with Sheftu (as he falls in love with her). When Sahure, a juggler at the Falcon Inn where the rebels meet, turns spy for the Queen's men, Mara is found out by both sides. Despite Sheftu's attempt to kill her, she returns to warn him and his followers of the raid that will go down at their meeting place. While waiting for her warning to be heeded, the soldiers of pharoh come. Mara waits in the shadows to make certain everyone escaped and to find her own chance at escaping, but is captured by the soldiers.

She is taken to the palace for interrogation, but continues to claim not to know the leader, despite the harsh beating and the offers of freedom and riches. Sheftu has in the meantime heard of what has been going on, he tries to rescue her, but is identified as the leader of the rebellion by Sahure. But he has been working well the last years and by now most of the priests, the nobles and the entire army are on his side and storm the palace. The rebellion is successful, Hatshepsut is allowed to die by her own hand by ingesting poison provided by Thutmose, and Mara and Sheftu end happily coupled.

References

"Mara, Daughter of the Nile" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw