How could the nation be kept under control unless they were all enslaved to a common enterprise? Peace and plenty would only start giving people ideas- they must be constantly kept under the whip. Cheops found the argument persuasive- the great tomb started to rise, and every day brought death and destruction to the workforce. If the building of the tomb proceeded too fast, those responsible were arrested, tortured and executed, accused of conspiring against the throne; if the pace slowed down, those responsible were put to death for lacking zeal. And while Egypt was drained of blood by the pyramid, its neighbours plotted and gloated.A transparent parable of life under a communist dictatorship, told with the same quiet, sardonic humour and keen eye for pertinent detail which characterised The Palace of Dreams.