The Hidden Oasis

Journalist and novelist Paul Sussman read history at Cambridge, where he won a Joseph Larmor Award and was a Boxing Blue. From an early age his abiding passion was archaeology and he worked in the field, in particular in Egypt (where he was part of the first team to excavate new ground in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922). He brought this interest and enthusiasm to his novels – The Lost Army of Cambyses, The Last Secret of the Temple, The Hidden Oasis and The Labyrinth of Osiris – which have been translated into over 30 languages and have sold over three million copies. Paul’s journalism appeared across the media, including in the Big Issue, Independent, Guardian, Evening Standard and on CNN.com. Paul died suddenly in May 2012, aged 45. He is survived by his wife, a television producer, and their two sons. In 2014, the posthumous publication of what was in fact his first novel - The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix - fulfilled a long-held wish.