A year ago, Michael Walmer sent me a review copy of Eve in Egypt (1929) by Stella Tennyson Jesse. And look, here I am, I finally read it! It turns out it needed another August before I could turn to so vibrant a cover.
This was Tennyson Jesse’s only book – and, as you may well have surmised, she was the sister of the more-famous F Tennyson Jesse. Her sister wrote novels like A Pin To See The Peepshow and The Lacquer Lady that weren’t connected to her own life. Stella, on the other hand, drew influence straight from her own experiences. I suspect she was not much like Eve, but she certainly went to Egypt. And, boy, you’ll know it by the end!
Here’s how we meet Eve:
The funny thing was that Eve woke up that morning rather depressed than otherwise. “ If,” as she said to herself afterwards, “ I had had that wonderful feeling that something beautiful was going to happen, I could
have understood it; but to think that everything lovely in life began that morning, and that I never guessed it !
I only woke up with that horrid feeling of there being something unpleasant in the background. That does
really seem odd.”
And, after all, the something unpleasant had not been so very bad. To be exact, it was two proposals ; and
though Eve, like all nice-minded young women, deprecated the idea of a proposal that she couldn’t accept,
nevertheless there remained in her mind, as in the mind of every woman similarly situated, a pleasant residue — a sort of nice sugary sediment, as it were. After all, every proposal is a tribute to one’s charms, there’s no
getting away from that.
She is quintessentially 1920s – or at least a certain sort of 1920s. She is quite flighty and superficial, though with a heart under it all. The reason she goes to Egypt is largely to get away from having to respond to those two unwelcome proposals. And so off she goes with her sister Serena (charmingly ignorant), Serena’s husband Hugh, and the knowledgeable Jeremy.
It’s entirely obvious to the reader from the outset that she will fall in love with Jeremy, and this plot chugs along nicely in the background as we take a tour of Egypt. And this is where STJ’s experience certainly comes into play.
I’m always a little reluctant to read The Brits Abroad novels. I would rather read a novel set in Egypt written by an Egyptian (any recommendations?). But I was drawn in by the insouciance of this one, and it does deliver. Tennyson Jesse does an admirable job of making the info-dumps feel like they’re part of the conversation, and even gives humour to them and uses them to develop character. But it’s hard to deny that there are sections that scream “here’s my research!” Yes, Jeremy is educating the party – but perhaps we didn’t need quite as much of an overt history lesson.
Having said that, I was very interested by some temples that were left to flood when a new dam was built. As Jeremy explains, the locals need water and sometimes artefacts have to suffer the consequences. I went to Wikipedia. Turns out the UNESCO came along and thought that maybe the temple shouldn’t suffer the consequences, and dismantled and moved it. If I could remember the name of the temple, I’d put a link…
The experience is enhanced by some photos spread throughout the book, which I’m assuming were taken by Tennyson Jesse. As the back of this new edition says, it’s both ‘Literature – fiction’ and ‘travelogue’. I don’t tend to get on with the latter, but there was enough of the former to beguile me – and this was a fun, delightfully predictable story. And – again – what a stunning and happy cover!
Yay. I have that very edition waiting to read. You make it sound very appealing, so perhaps I’ll not wait too much longer.
Excellent! Looking forward to your review.
That is a cover and a half. And I can recommend The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif which I have read twice and reviewed exhaustively (not!!) here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2007/03/24/ahdaf-soueif-the-map-of-love/ But it was good enough to read twice in five years!
Thanks for the recommendation – twice in five years is definitely a good sign
Abu Simbel
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Simbel_temples
Thanks Nicola!
The temple is called Abu Simbel. It is absolutely stunning. I liked the Yacoubian Building by Alaa-Al-Aswany. About inhabitants in a building in Cairo.
It’s great fun, isn’t it? I actually liked all the travel/historical bits – they added a little something for me. And yes, the cover is fab! :D
I imagine they’d work well for many readers – just a bit of a blind spot for me.
This is, to the surprise of no one, quite high on my wish list. There is nothing I like better than a travelogue and fictional ones are just as welcome to me as factual ones!
Oh yes, this is very you – hope you enjoy!
Sorry you didn’t get on so well with the travelogue element Simon, but delighted that the fictional element was more involving! And really glad you like the cover…….
The pros definitely outweighed anything else! Thanks for the review copy :D
Egyptian novels by Egyptian writers? Anything by Naguib Mahfouz,, particularly his “Cairo” trilogy. Also recommended are The Open Door, by Latifa al-Zayyat and Houses behind the Trees by Mohamed El-Bisatie.
Impressive to have read three Egyptian authors you’d recommend! Any special interest there, or could you give me three for any country? I’ll look these ones up.
I think my father gave me a book by Mahfouz which I enjoyed and for many years my wife’s mother lived and worked in Cairo so perhaps yes a special interest. I certainly could NOT give you three for any country!