Historical novels on the Indus Valley

All historical novels on the Indus Valley need to deal with the parameters of an unknown world, something very different from writing about ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, where recorded texts are extensive and the historical parameters much clearer. There is a dearth of historical fiction on the Indus Valley and on neighboring areas such as Elam, as well as on the Indo-European tribes of the steppes. The bulk of fiction on the ancient East focuses on Egypt and Mesopotamia, because of their historical links to the Greek and Roman empires, and to the origins of the Abrahamic religions, which have shaped tastes and academic predilections in the West for centuries. To write fiction on the Indus Valley and neighboring Elam is to break new ground. One cannot stand on the shoulders of Egyptologists, Assyriologists, and Sumerologists as have novelists of the past, such as Mika Waltari. Indologists and Elamologists speculate on the daily life of the ancient Indus Valley and Elam, but it is up to the novelist to fill in the gaps of history and to bring it alive so that the reader can breathe, smell and hear it.