A Thousand Miles Up The Nile

By: Amelia Blanford Edwards

Narrated by: Alan Munro

The original tomb raider! The original female traveloguer! The author of The Phantom Coach and Other Stories.

Accompanied by Lucy Renshaw, Edwards toured Egypt in the winter of 1874. They journeyed southwards from Cairo in a manned houseboat. The two women visited Philae and ultimately reached Abu Simbel, where they remained for six weeks. Their boat joined a flotilla with another female English traveler, Marianne Brocklehurst, also travelling with a female companion.

Edward’s travels in Egypt made her aware of increasing threats to ancient monuments from tourism and modern development. She set out to hinder these through public awareness and scientific endeavor. In 1882 she co-founded the Egypt Exploration Fund at the British Museum. Edwards became joint Honorary Secretary of the Fund until her death. She gained the nickname "Godmother of Egyptology" for her contributions.

Public Domain (P)2021 Trout Lake Media

Narration is no good

The subject and content seem very good and enticing and entertaining; however, the narration is terrible. Sounds like a computer generated voice for the visually impaired, slow, odd pauses, dull, and boring, it will put you to sleep. Shame, it does no justice to the content. I couldn’t get past chapter 3, so I’ll be buying and reading the book the old fashion way.

Two intrepid women in 19th Century Egypt and beyond

This absolutely riveting narrative simply takes one along for the journey. “The Writer”, as she styles herself, has a gift of description that is so rare as to be almost unique. From sandstorms on the river, to the interior of ancient tombs, to observations about harem life, to Egypt as it appears laid out below from the top of one of the great pyramids, one is drawn along through every stage of this monumental journey. The intelligence and the deep knowledge of Egyptology of the Writer is everywhere evident, but there isn’t a dull moment to be found anywhere, even when she is cataloguing the interiors of tombs and temples. Everything is so engagingly observed that you simply come along with her for the whole incredible journey.

I thought I would mind that the narrator was a man, but he was so quietly excellent that he simply brought the book to life. The author and her companion, L, shone through, vividly restored, in all their humanity.