First published 2003
Dr. Sarah Chen arrives in modern-day Iraq to excavate ancient Babylon, but her archaeological dig uncovers more than broken pottery and crumbling walls. As she pieces together fragments of cuneiform tablets, the stories of merchants, priests, and slaves from 2,500 years ago begin to consume her thoughts. The deeper she digs, the more parallels she finds between ancient corruption and modern greed. Local officials demand bribes while her team faces constant threats from looters and political instability. Sarah must choose between abandoning her life's work or risking everything to protect the voices of the dead. Her quest to understand how civilizations rise and fall becomes a personal reckoning with the price of knowledge and the weight of history.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, archaeology, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, personal-reckoning
Setting: Iraq, Babylon
Period: 2,500 years ago, modern-day
288 pages · Hardcover · Carlton Books Ltd