The sands of time

Book review: The Egyptian Years by Elizabeth Harris

I accidentally stumbled upon this book on Goodreads when I was in the mood for a past-present book with a gothic feel. It was written in the early 1990s and frankly, I hadn't heard of this author before reading this book. I couldn't find many reviews of Elizabeth Harris' books on the net either. But this book actually managed to exceed my expectations - it was a nice past-present mystery with a paranormal element and worth a read.

The book centers around Willa Jamieson who leads a boring life working in a museum with two aged employees. Her staid life changes suddenly when she receives a trunk full of old Victorian clothes from her distant relative, Hester Montsorrel. Willa doesn't recollect Hester very clearly, as Hester seems to have been an oddity in their family, mostly keeping to herself and always being whispered about. It seems the clothes belonged to Genevieve Montsorrel, Hester's mother, and Hester wants Willa to have them due to her interest in antiques.

On her way to Hester's house, Willa meets Hugo Henshaw-Jones, a collector of antique items, who has come to buy an Egyptian mummy-mask from Hester. Once she reaches Hester's house, Willa finds that Hester is now a very old and somewhat eccentric lady, though all her faculties are very much intact. Hester is apparently disposing off her old and antique items by selling them at nominal prices or giving them away as gifts.

After going back home, Willa is very curious about the unknown contents of the trunk, especially since nothing much is known about Genevieve. Willa is intrigued by Genevieve and finds out that according to the family bible, there is a mysterious question mark against Genevieve's year of death. Willa manages to open the trunk with Hugh's help  and is excited to find a lot of well-preserved and good quality dresses and hats from the Victorian era. She is attracted to a beige suit in particular and tries it on in front of the mirror. The dress fits her perfectly and for a moment, she thinks she sees another woman's face superimposed on her own face in the mirror. Willa, of course, dismisses this as a trick of the light. When she checks the pockets of the jacket, she finds grains of red-brown sand and hears a voice whispering "Egypt" in her ears. Then a whirl of images hit her - wide azure skies, golden sand, mummy-masks and she feels a frisson of a strange, momentary fear which goes away the moment she takes off the suit.

Willa is somehow sure that Genevieve had visited Egypt in her lifetime and is determined to find out more about what eventually happened to Genevieve. She soon discovers a journal written by Genevieve in the trunk and is sucked into the events of 1890 when Genevieve travelled with her husband, Leonard Montsorrel, to Egypt. It soon becomes apparent that Genevieve wasn't happy with her marriage and Leonard was a cold and unfeeling man, incapable of understanding his sensitive wife. As Willa keeps reading the entries in the journal, Genevieve's voice seems to reach out to her from the past and her own present world seems to fade away. She starts living in a trance-like state, forgetting to eat or sleep or go to work for days, so strong is her identification with Genevieve's life.

The events in Genevieve's life soon take an unexpected turn and Willa starts having surprisingly realistic dreams of Egypt. Willa realizes that she is fast losing her grip on the present and Genevieve's emotions are somehow taking over Willa's life. As Willa stays alone, she has no one to turn to for help. Her parents are also out of the country and are unable to come to her assistance. In her desperation, she reaches out to Hugo who seems to be her only connection with the present. Hugo and his mother take care of her and help her make sense of her visions. Willa is increasingly driven to find out more about Genevieve's disappearance and to know why Genevieve's voice seems to call to her. She knows that she will have no peace till she finds out the truth behind Genevieve's mysterious disappearance.

Shocking secrets are slowly revealed about Genevieve and Hester, and Willa and Hugo travel to Egypt to finally bury the past. What really happened to Genevieve in Egypt? Who is the red-haired man Willa keeps seeing in her dreams? Why was Hester shunned throughout her life by her family? Why is there a dark stain on the beige coat that looks suspiciously like blood?

There is an unexpected twist in the end that I didn't see coming, and I was glad that the ending to the tale is a happy one. My only complaints with the book are that it drags somewhat in the middle and Willa is a bit too passive for my taste, but I think I can live with that, considering that this book was written almost 25 years back. All in all, a nice, little mystery read :)