How long does it take to read The Woman Who Would Be King?
Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney takes about 5 hours 40 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 40 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2014. 309 pages, about 84,975 words.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 27 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 40 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 32 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
Hatshepsut—the daughter of a general who usurped Egypt's throne and a mother with ties to the previous dynasty—was born into a privileged position in the royal household, and she was expected to bear the sons who would legitimize the reign of her father’s family. Her failure to produce a male heir was ultimately the twist of fate that paved the way for her improbable rule as a cross-dressing king. At just over twenty, Hatshepsut ascended to the rank of pharaoh in an elaborate coronation ceremony that set the tone for her spectacular reign as co-regent with Thutmose III, the infant king whose mother Hatshepsut out-maneuvered for a seat on the throne. Hatshepsut was a master strategist, cloaking her political power plays in the veil of piety and sexual reinvention. Just as women today face obstacles from a society that equates authority with masculinity, Hatshepsut shrewdly operated the levers of power to emerge as Egypt's second female pharaoh.
Subjects: Memoirs, Women, Royalty, ancient Egypt, Middle East, Historical
