I discovered ‘Crocodile on a Sandbank‘ by Elizabeth Peters many years back through a friend’s recommendation. I finally got around to reading it.
‘Crocodile on the Sandbank’ is an Egyptian adventure. The story is set in the 1880s. Amelia Peabody is an independent woman. Her father has passed away recently and has left her all his money. Amelia loves history, archaeology and other interesting things. So she decides to travel and visit all the places she’d dreamt of, the places her dad had talked about. While in Rome she meets Evelyn who is having a tough time. Amelia takes Evelyn under her wing and these two friends decide to go to Egypt. What happens there and what adventures these two friends have forms the rest of the story.
‘Crocodile on the Sandbank’ is an old-fashioned Egyptian adventure. There are pyramids, tombs, excavations, mummies, mummies suddenly going missing and then coming back to life in the middle of the night and scaring people – it is all there. Amelia has a sharp sense of humour and it is fun listening to the story through her words. There is a character called Emerson whom Amelia meets in Egypt, who matches her in his sharp sense of humour. The verbal sparrings these two have were some of my favourite parts of the book and were an absolute pleasure to read. There is an underlying mystery in the story which is revealed in the end. Having read many mysteries, I guessed it halfway through the story. The book is still entertaining.
The title of the book seems to be inspired by an ancient Egyptian poem which goes like this –
“The love of my beloved is on yonder side
A width of water is between us
And a crocodile waiteth on the sandbank.”
Whether this is an actual ancient Egyptian poem, or whether this is a poem dreamt by Elizabeth Peters, I don’t know. But I liked that poem.
I enjoyed reading ‘Crocodile on the Sandbank’. It is the first book in the Amelia Peabody series. There are twenty books in the series, and so endless reading pleasure awaits 😊
Have you read ‘Crocodile on the Sandbank’ or any of the books in the Amelia Peabody series? What do you think about it?
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