Guest Post by Marie Laval, author of The Lion's Embrace

By: Meradeth Houston on 6:00 AM

I have another author-treat for you all today! Marie Laval is here to tell us a little more about her book, The Lion's Embrace, and some of my favorite topics: archaeology, writing, and foreign lands! Enjoy!

Thank you so much Meradeth for welcoming me on your blog today to talk about the release of my second historical romance ‘The Lion’s Embrace’. The novel is mostly set in North Africa in 1845, as the heroin Harriet Montague and the hero, French guide Lucas Saintclair, travel throughout Algeria toward the Hoggar mountain range where Harriet’s father was abducted by a gang of Tuareg fighters – or was he? Well, I can’t reveal too much of the plot here….Harriet’s father, Professor Oscar Montague from the British Museum, was on the trail of the legendary Garamantes’ emerald mines when he discovered the tomb of Tuareg queen Tin Hinan.

I thought I would write a short post about Tin Hinan, the queen the Tuaregs still call ‘Our Mother’. Tin Hinan is rumoured to have come from what would now be Morocco with her maid servant Takamat. They settled at Abalessa, an oasis in Southern Algeria, and their daughters are rumoured to be the founders of all the Tuareg tribes. Her tomb was discovered by archaeologist and adventurer Byron Khun de Prorok (I know, what a name!) in 1925.

In ‘The Lion’s Embrace’, the heroin’s father discovers the tomb in 1845 but the tomb is then closed up and left untouched. I kept all the details of the artefacts, of the gold, silver jewellery, precious and semi-precious stones which were found as accurate as possible and stuck very closely to the description of the remains of the Tuareg queen.

When her burial chamber was opened, archaeologists found the queen lying on a bed of hand-carved wood, facing toward the East. She was wrapped in a leather shroud, and wore fifteen solid silver and gold bracelets, a diadem made of emeralds, ostrich feathers and a long cornelian necklace. In the days before carbon dating, it was the imprint of a coin with the effigy of Emperor Constantine on a sculptured bowl which enabled historians to date the tomb from the 4^th century AD. The body of Queen Tin Hinan as well as all the artefacts found in her tomb are now in the Bardo Museum in Algiers.

From the summit of the tomb, one can see the beautiful, mysterious Hoggar mountain range, particularly the great Koudia – which the Tuareg have named the ‘Roof of the Sahara’, and where according to local legends, the King of the Djins (the King of the Evil Spirits) lives. One can see the iconic Mount Illiman too.

Even before her tomb was discovered, the numerous legends surrounding Queen Tin Hinan inspired Pierre Benoit to write his classic novel ‘Atlantide’, published in 1919. His heroin, Antinea, and her followers are descendants of the people of ‘Atlantis’ who had taken refuge in the Hoggar after a great disaster destroyed their world. Antinea lives in a palace hidden in the mountains, where she seduced and entrapped lost explorers to the Sahara.

Recently there has been some controversy about the identify of the woman who was buried at Abalessa, with some historians now disputing that the remains belonged to Tin Hinan at all!

Whoever was buried there however was a woman of immense prestige and immense wealth.

Here is the blurb for ‘The Lion’s Embrace’

Arrogant, selfish and dangerous, Lucas Saintclair is everything Harriet Montague dislikes in a man. He is also the best guide in the whole of the Barbary States, the only man who can rescue her archaeologist father from the gang of Tuareg fighters that has kidnapped him. As Harriet embarks on a perilous journey across Algeria with Saintclair and Archibald Drake, her father’s most trusted friend, she discovers a bewitching but brutal land where nothing is what it seems. Who are these men intent on stealing her father’s ransom? What was her father hoping to find in Tuareg queen Tin Hinan’s tomb? Is Lucas Saintclair really as callous as he claims—or is he a man haunted by a past he cannot forgive? Dangerous passions engulf Harriet’s heart in the heat of the Sahara. Secrets of lost treasures, rebel fighters, and a sinister criminal brotherhood threaten her life and the life of the man she loves.

Does forever lie in the lion’s embrace?

Author Bio:

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie Laval studied History and Law at university there and developed a passionate interest in historical research and the study of ancient civilizations. The beauty and mysteries of the Sahara desert always fascinated her and provide the background for THE LION’S EMBRACE, a story of adventure and romance set in 1840s Algeria and England. Marie Laval now lives in Northern England with her family.  

THE LION’S EMBRACE is Marie Laval’s second novel.

Links:

https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=655&category_id=205&manufacturer_id=227&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lions-Embrace-ebook/dp/B00BACDSK6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Lions-Embrace-ebook/dp/B00BACDSK6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1361036450&sr=1-1