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.
I read this book for the first time last year and loved it for exactly the reasons you specify.
I try not to psych myself out by checking for other reviews before I post mine. (But I did check right away after I posted.) I’m glad Amelia is so popular! Her praises deserve repeating!
I also read this for the first time last year and loved it. I look forward to getting the rest of the series at the library.
It’s really great. The later ones lose the spark a bit, but I always enjoy them. I only just found out today that the author passed away in 2013, so I guess there’s no more to come. Oh well.
I absolutely adore the early Amelia Peabody books, and read the series up to the point where their children were producing grandchildren (which was quite a few books longer than I’d have the patience with now). By that point, I thought the series had pretty much descended into melodramatic, repetitive soap opera antics.
While I loved that the books orogressed in time, I do kinda wish that Peabody and Emerson could have just stayed young forever? I think that once Ramses and Nefret and David and everybody grew up, it got really cluttered with characters and story lines.
This is a big favorite for me – great review. I’ve read and reread the series a million times. I love historical mysteries, and Amelia and Emerson are just darling. I don’t even care about the soap opera antics, sometimes I just need a little melodrama in my life more than real drama.
I don’t mind the melodrama. I love the Mummy curses and secret long-lost family members and hidden cities of it all. I enjoyed The Kids, but I wish they hadn’t taken over near the end. MOAR Peabody + Emerson!
These sound wonderful! And there’s only a very short wait for the first from my library. Yay!
Rames + Nefret < Amelia + Emerson. That's a very BIG lesser than sign. I didn't mind them as side characters, but when the series became more focused on them and less on the awesomeness of Amelia and Emerson.
I definitely prefer Amelia and Emerson’s love. I’m a little squicked out by some elements of the Ramses + Nefret love story.