THE Egyptian queen Nefertiti was one of the most beautiful women of the world.

Worshipped in her days, people around the globe still admire her now for her Audrey Hepburn-esque good looks. You can judge this for yourself, if you visit Bolton Museum and look at the replica of Nefertiti.

But the important twist in the tale is that she mysteriously vanished, and her body has never been found!

Some experts believe the enigmatic Nefertiti ended up living as a man, ruling her own "king"dom.

But not Bolton author Joyce Tyldesley.

She has written a book on the good-looking queen, and thinks the answer to the riddle is more straightforward - she must have just died and been buried in the desert.

The mother-of-two's approach to Egyptology has always been down-to-earth, and her latest book on Nefertiti is no exception.

She wants to reach out to the many non-academics interested in the subject, without skimping on facts and honest debate.

This means she aims to include the different points of view in her books.

"Everything is contentious," Joyce laughed.

"You wouldn't think so, would you, for such a dull-sounding subject!"

Joyce, who is 39, wrote the book in about six months, and a year ago, it came out in hardback.

Since then it has been translated into German and French and a paperback has just hit the shelves.

The Times has reviewed the book favourably, about which Joyce is "really pleased".

Being a very approachable and cheerful person, she doesn't mind the book signings and talks that come with being a popular author.

Fun

"It's good fun because you meet people and you get to know the people who are reading your book," said Joyce.

"People are fascinated by all this, it's so different and there's so much to learn about it."

But she has to fit all this in between looking after her two children, Phillipa, 9, and Jack,5, and working as an accountant. At the moment she really has her hands full as her archeaologist husband is on a "dig", but Joyce said she "doesn't mind".

After all, it might not be too long before he is stuck at home while she is in Egypt doing some research.

In the meantime, there is Nefertiti, who, Joyce said, seems very beautiful to modern eyes - which is quite unusual.

But to dig behind her well-known beauty, Joyce had to read mountains of books and build on experience gained during past site visits.

"She had a really interesting life," she said. "She married quite young to a pharaoh and played an important part in his reign.

"Nefertiti must have been quite a strong woman - not just physically, but to be able to be alongside her husband. She had power of her own and quite clearly left her mark."

Nefertiti, Joyce described, was worshipped and had six daughters by the age of 30. Together, she and the king presided over the most powerful kingdom of the Bronze Age world - then she disappeared and nobody knows what happened to her.

So, can Joyce identify with her subject?

"Well, the more I know about her the stranger it all seems," she remarked. "The idea that you are a living god and they worship you . . .

"I wouldn't like to have lived in those times, it gets over-glamourised - for most people it would have been a bit rough!"

"Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen" is published by Penguin, priced £7.99.

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