London in the glittering twenties. Iris Barrington, the daughter of a rich industrialist, lives a luxurious but lonely existence. Her mother is dead, her father Elmer is interested only in his art collection and his building projects. Beneath her conventional life, with its parties and its craze for all things Egyptian, she longs for escape. When Samuel Dux comes into her life, fresh from the excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb, she sees her chance.

But Samuel brings with him a troubling secret, one that stems from a dark moment in Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb. It is a secret that threatens his own future and that of Iris too. An enthralling love story that spans the world of the 1920s, from London’s high society and its artistic life, to Howard Carter’s famous excavation in the Valley of the Kings, The Weighing Of The Heart is a tale of passion, buried betrayals and devastating truths.

Jane Thynne talks about the setting and inspiration for her latest novel, a fascinating love story with its roots in the mysteries of ancient Egypt.

Simon Carr , the best selling author of The Boys Are Back (now a Miramax-distributed film starring Clive Owen) presents To Be Franc - a fascinating study of the differences between England and France over the last 1,500 years

John Carey is Emeritus Merton professor of English Literature at Oxford University. He is an eminent critic, reviewer and broadcaster and will be contributing a forward to the first Byline Classic. Byline Classics are works of literature which we believe have been unjustly forgotten or neglected, and each will be chosen by a distinguished writer, academic or journalist.

Alexander Chancellor, the journalist, columnist and prize winning editor (he invented the modern Spectator, and created the Independent on Sunday magazine), publishes a collection of his columns written over the last fifty years.