About the Book
Book: The Well of the Soul
Author: Doug Powell
Genre: Action/Adventure/Suspense
Release date: October 15, 2021
A list of hiding places on a strip of papyrus found inside a mummy mask thrusts Graham Eliot, Ancient Near East scholar, into a hunt for the treasures of the second temple. The list has already cost the life of a colleague, and now he is being pursued as he races to recover what has been lost for almost 2,000 years.
As he literally digs into Jerusalem, he is haunted by the recent deaths of his wife and daughter, which have left him doubting the existence of God. His spiritual and archaeological struggles become more entwined as his life is repeatedly threatened the longer the work continues. When he reaches the final site—the cisterns below the Temple Mount, a network of caves and tunnel no one has entered in 150 years and that no one has ever explored—Graham discovers far greater treasure than he ever imagined.
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My Thoughts:
Archeologists must have some patience to be able to locate, process, and be very careful with the finds that they make. Some finds are spectacular, and others are less so but no less interesting or unimportant as they try to uncover the keys to our past. This is a story that follows one such archeologist, Graham Eliot, into what may be one of his greatest discoveries as the author takes us through the steps.
Graham has been in a fog of life for about two years since the loss of his wife and daughter. His faith is in crisis, and he really doesn't have any true joy at the time we meet him. Unfortunately, a very good friend and colleague has been murdered over what he has discovered, and his friend sent Graham what he found. Now life has reemerged for Graham, and he is being asked by some top government agencies to look into this.
I wondered if this would be like and Indian Jones adventure, but the author went another way. There is danger and mystery, but we almost get a firsthand account of the dig and the discoveries that Graham is on, and the history of such sites. This was an interesting read full of history and examples of what an average archeological dig might look like. And the cooperation of different background individuals and their countries. This was also an informative read.
I was provided a copy of this novel by the author. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.
About the Author
More from Doug
In December 2013, I attended a private event where an Ancient Near East scholar demonstrated a method he had developed for deconstructing certain kinds of mummy masks. He explained that many mummy masks were made with an early form of papier-mâché called cartonnage. Instead of paper as we know it, the material that was molded and shaped was papyrus, an early form of paper made from the leaves of a papyrus plant. However, papyrus was too expensive to justify using it for mummy’s. So a funerary attendant would collect discarded books, letters, and documents—whatever he could find—and use them construct the mask.
The scholar then explained that if a mask could be found from the right location and the right time period, then it might contain fragments of biblical manuscripts. The problem was how to dissolve the adhesive to separate and extract the individual fragments. After much trial and error, he had hit on a solution—a liquid key, of sorts—to unlock the mask. He then went to the pantry where the event was taking place and turned on a camera mounted above the sink that fed video back to the auditorium where I watched the big screen along with more than a hundred other apologists and scholars.
He submerged the mask into what look like bubbles from dishwashing liquid, narrating what was happening as he worked the solution into the mask. After a few moments, he announced something had just come loose, then pulled a hand from the bubbles, an ancient fragment pinched between his fingers. He repositioned it in this palm and identified the text as Coptic. He set it aside to dry, then repeated the process, pulling fragments more quickly as the mask disintegrated.
The mask yielded several dozen fragments, many with writing on them. After letting them dry, the scholars who had watched the demonstration then tried to read and identify each of the texts on the fragments by entering the words they could make out into a database of ancient writings. Full disclosure: out of the entire batch, I could read only one word, which was and. So I didn’t exactly do any heavy-lifting to help move the body of scholarly knowledge forward. By the end of the next day, five fragments from the New Testament had been identified, and one from Jeremiah.
As fascinating as the experience was, I found myself wondering, What would be the craziest thing that could possibly be found inside the mask? At the time, I had no plans to write a novel. But somehow the question was a seed that grew in the dark, given that I didn’t actively pursue it. Years later—quite unexpectedly—I found an answer to the question. And I realized I was sitting on a premise to a novel. The presentation became the first scene in the book that became The Well of the Soul.
Blog Stops
Book Reviews
From an Avid Reader, February 3
Debbie’s
Dusty Deliberations, February 4
Texas Book-aholic,
February 5
Pause for
Tales, February 5
Inklings
and notions, February 6
For the
Love of Literature, February 6
For Him and My
Family, February 7
deb’s Book
Review, February 8
Locks, Hooks
and Books, February 9
Ashley’s
Clean Book Reviews, February 10
The Sacred Line,
February 10
Because I
said so — and other adventures in Parenting, February 11
A Modern Day
Fairy Tale, February 12 (Spotlight)
Blogging With
Carol, February 12
Musings
of a Sassy Bookish Mama, February 13
Truth and Grace
Homeschool Academy, February 14
Gina Holder,
Author and Blogger, February 15 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake,
February 15
Little
Homeschool on the Prairie, February 16
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, Doug is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/19bc3/the-well-of-the-soul-celebration-tour-giveaway
The Well of the Soul sounds like a thrilling read and the cover is very eye-catching, thanks for sharing it with me! Thanks for sharing your review, Pause for Tales! Have a sunshiny day!
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