Mika Waltari

Mika Waltari (born Sept. 19, 1908, Helsinki, Finland—died Aug. 26, 1979, Helsinki) was a Finnish author whose historical novels were international best-sellers. Waltari studied theology and philosophy at the University of Helsinki. His early novels were concerned with the crises of the generation that came of age between the world wars. He gained international recognition with the appearance of Sinuhe, egyptiläinen (1945; The Egyptian, 1949), a story of life in Egypt 1,000 years before the...