Crocodile on the Sandbank

Although Peters had written at least seven unrelated novels before this one, it was here that she finally struck gold. This American author made the mildly audacious decision to write a novel from the viewpoint of a 19th-century Englishwoman, set it mostly in Egypt, and mix in elements of archæology, crime, comedy, and romance. The mixture works remarkably well.

Peters was already an Egyptologist and knew her stuff in that respect. She was accustomed to writing crime stories with a dash of humour. But here she reached a higher level of characterization and humour than she'd achieved before. This story of a resourceful feminist let loose in Egypt in 1884 is truly hilarious and most entertaining, especially from being told in the first person.

It was followed in due course by numerous sequels giving the further adventures of Amelia Peabody and her expanding circle of family, friends, and enemies. The sequels are in general more serious than this first book, giving more emphasis to crime and adventure. However, outbreaks of hilarity continue to occur from time to time. I haven't read the whole series; my mother has, and reports some decline in quality in the later ones.

The Peters imitation of a Victorian-English writing style is quite effective in the first book, but later on she grows less careful and more Americanisms creep in. It must be hard for an American to weed out all of these without using the services of a British editor. For instance, I've noticed that Americans commonly assume the expression freshen up (used about oneself) to be generic English, whereas in fact it's an Americanism, and a relatively recent one: the earliest usage example in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1961.

Elizabeth Peters is a pseudonym for Barbara Mertz (1927–2013).

So... the white FEMALE savior goes to Egypt, saves the ignorant, dirty, uncivilized Egyptians, educates the Egyptologist in Egyptology, the Archaeologist in archaeology, the sailor in sailing, the doctors in medicine, and other specialists in their specialty, and levels the pompous misogynists' noses - and all men are misogynists... This happened in the late 1880s, hard to pinpoint when, but she complains about women's clothing, education, and all kinds of other things, that weren't really a problem.So... she starts her Chauvinism already in Italy, where she kind of replays the nastiness of Susan Coolidge's [b:What Katy Did Next 730503 What Katy Did Next Susan Coolidge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348327387l/730503.SX50.jpg 1779240]. She rescues a young heiress, Evelyn Barton-Forbes, who is the epitome of a damsel-in-distress. She swoons. She faints. She stays fainted for hours. (Dear writers, people stay fainted for a couple of SECONDS. If they are unconscious for more than 15-20 minutes, there are SERIOUS reasons for this. If unattended, people could die or suffer serious consequences. You can't just carry the fainted person in a hotel and give them a sponge bath, and they will be all fine.)Anyway, back to chauvinism. Italians are apparently horrible people. The villains of this book are Italian and prove Evelyn's grandfather's prejudices totally justified and true. Now, we have two very wealthy men dying and leaving their property to these ladies. Yet they whine about how unfair it is to be a woman and whatnot. Amanda has brothers, and Evelyn has male cousins, who are older than she is. But - SO UNFAIR!!!! Evelyn can't inherit the peerage! She's a lady nevertheless. What ever.The chauvinism continues in Egypt. ALL Egyptians are so dirty, uncivilized, uneducated, ignorant, superstitious, savage, without any moral or ethical values, except a few - very few - exceptions, and they are exceptions only because they are Christian or some such thing. And they aren't very good as people, just a little bit more educated and civilized by the good, kind, just, fair, civilized, wonderful Englishmen. Somewhat like trained dogs compared to street mutts, you know. Also, she is a feminist. Yes, Elizabeth actually uses the word. Of course, Amelia is a feminist, and so is Evelyn, even though she is really not. Amelia isn't like other women, you know. She needs Evelyn to clean her up, and does she not clean up so nicely! She is married within a year after meeting Evelyn! Nevertheless, she complains about her clothes all the time. Ok, so sure, women weren't wearing pants in the 1880s, but if you have never worn pants, you don't need to wear pants. Just ask any true Scotsman ;-) Seriously, I preferred skirts for most of my childhood, and I was a very active tomboy. I spend most of my days (when I wasn't reading) out running in the woods, climbing in trees and on rocks, wearing fairy core and prairie dresses. So, PLEASE; authors, stop badmouthing skirts!There were sportswear in the 1880s. The riding habit was pants with an overskirt. Why wasn't Amelia wearing that? Or culottes. They also existed in the 1880s. Also, we have precedent. French archaeologist, Jane Dieulafoy wore three-piece suits while traveling with their husband. This drawing is from 1883. (Now, I believe Jane was in reality Jean, a trans-man, but what do I know. In the eyes of the society, they were a woman, wearing men's clothes, in 1883. Nothing stopped Amelia from wearing men's clothes either.)Elizabeth gets some points for not complaining about 1) pockets or 2) corsets. I'm sure it was because she forgot, not because she didn't think they were worth complaining. Amelia also complains about men all the time. I suppose that's what Elizabeth thinks feminism is. I think a lot of people have misunderstood this with feminism. It's not an effort to make women rule the world, it's an effort to make the world see and treat women as human beings. The eternal bantering between the main characters about “typical men” “typical women” was tiresome and irritating. There is no such thing as a “typical man/woman”. In reality, Amelia comes across as a misandrist. Men who disagree with her are automatically disqualified as having valid opinions or being worth listening to, maybe even heeding to, because they are men. She hires a boat, and demands it sails at her command, ignoring the captain's effort to explain or negotiate other solutions, no, she knows what she wants, she pays, so they do as she says. End of conversations.This is the way she deals with any and every disagreement. And she believes this to be a good thing, is proud of herself.She is a real bitch. She is never wrong, never apologizes, why would she, she has never done anything wrong, and when she does something that might be considered less ladylike or fair, it's always someone else's fault, or a result of their behavior. I mean... this archaeologist wrote a book about a woman who goes to a museum and starts wiping the objects with her handkerchief, and when an archaeologist yells at her for being so inconsiderate and ignorant, she gets angry, and the author makes the man apologize to her. And later let her unsupervised to help in the excavation. I MEAN, ELIZABETH PETERS WAS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST/EGYPTOLOGIST!!! Real one, with education! What else? Did I mention that fat people are bad?

This is a British imperial ladies adventure novel that was written decades ago. In re-reading, it has all the tropes associated with a book of this genre. The main character complains about corsetry and embraces the sensible dress movement, there's multiple references to women being capable but assumed frail and men who say “you're not going to faint, are you?” Rather than just getting on with the adventure or the romance.

I am not saying this is a bad book. It's just that over the years, period adventure and romance novels have become a little more nuanced.

This was a re-read. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Amelia! The whole adventure was pure wish fulfillment for me, as a former archaeology student. ;)

That said–I'd also forgotten how the tension drags on a bit, haha. And I adore Evelyn, but her scruples–though probably time-appropriate–do get a bit frustrating. I hadn't remembered much of the plot, but midway through I did remember the solution (or maybe I've gotten better at guessing? xD) and came to my conclusion quite a bit before Amelia and Emerson did.

Still, though–I thoroughly enjoyed being swept away by this book, and the characters are lovable for all their flaws. I look forward to continuing the series!

Although I only gave it three stars, I enjoyed this book and plan on continuing the series for now. It was cleanly written and entertaining, though I went into it thinking it was a mystery, which it barely was. Really it is part of an adventure serial full of spunky characters and barely believable occurrences. That part I loved. But the mystery aspect was too easy to figure out. Plus, the chapters should be half as long.

Update: I have continued with the series and have gotten hooked. If you like Egypt, suspense, adventure, and romance I recommend keeping going. The mysteries get less predictable and the characters get more lovable. The chapters continue to be too long, but that's just more of an excuse to keep reading!