“I’m going to open the Suez Canal,” Empress Eugénie of France said excitedly.  For the first time ever ships would be able to sail from Europe to Asia without the long journey around the tip of Africa.  This was in 1869.

But the Empress was worried she would be lonely because she would be away from home and her family for two months. She decided to take her pet turtle Reine with her.

Reine, or Queenie as she might have been called if she were an English-speaking turtle, had plans of her own. She wanted to see the Pyramids.

How the little creature got to the famous monuments and what happened then is what Reine, the Turtle Who Protected the Pyramids is about. 

Turtles do move slowly and so does the manuscript of this story.  Our literary agent has sent it to several editors.  Hopefully it will soon find a home and an illustrator ready to capture our heroine on her adventures in Egypt.  We will let you know when her story is published.