The love of my beloved is on yonder side
A width of water is between us
And a crocodile waiteth on the sandbank.
– Ancient Egyptian Love Poem
Inspired by all you lovely reviewers and your passion for Romance, I decided to re-read one of my favourite series, and the closest thing to a romance novel in my reading history. I’m not anti-romance by any means, just not an avid romance reader (yet!).
The Amelia Peabody novels suit all my interests: mystery, romance, humour, feminism, Egypt! I just realized on re-reading this first one in the series that it was written in 1975. This answers some of my problems but also impresses me with its progressiveness.
The books are written in first person by our heroine, Amelia Peabody, a Victorian Englishwoman of independent means and spirit. Her voice is crystal clear from the first word, which I love. I think that Peters does a good job of being period-appropriate but also radically feminist, if that makes sense? Amelia is both kick-ass and very proper.
She travels to Egypt looking for adventure and finds it. Having befriended a tragic young girl and taken her on as her travelling companion, Amelia begins her tour of… well, bossiness. She is delightfully over-confident to the point of arrogance, always thinks she knows best and will tolerate no argument. I know this doesn’t sound appealing, and in this first book I don’t think that Peters has quite mastered the tone that in later books make Amelia such a fun character.
Amelia and her companion Evelyn meet up with two handsome but impoverished Egyptologist brothers and many shenanigans follow. There’s a Mummy, a curse, a sleezy ex-lover, betrayal and adventure galore. It’s very Haggard meets Austen meets Conan Doyle. Amelia and the older brother detest each other immediately and bicker all the way through the book so obviously that is the Great Romance. I’ve read all the books in the series and I like their continuing love story. He respects her deeply as the strong and brilliant woman that she is, while also being passionately in love with her. She respects him as a scholar and as a hot handsome man. They are very well-suited.
Because the conceit is that we are reading the journals of a Victorian lady, there are no steamy sexy scenes. In later books, we read many many times about Peabody and Emerson’s passion, but no details, just A LOT of *fade to black* in the bedroom. It’s sweet. The books are more Mystery than Romance, really. I just really like the romance, too.
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