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    The Sacred River: A Novel
    The Sacred River: A Novel
    The Sacred River: A Novel
    Ebook367 pages6 hours

    The Sacred River: A Novel

    By Wendy Wallace

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    A romantic, vivid novel about three women who leave Victorian London for Egypt—a tale of female empowerment, self-discovery, love, and the absolution that comes from facing the secrets of our pasts.

    Harriet Heron’s life is almost over before it has even begun. At just twenty-three years of age, she is an invalid, overprotected and reclusive. Before it is too late, she must escape the fog of Victorian London for a place where she can breathe.

    Together with her devoted mother, Louisa, her god-fearing aunt, Yael, and a book of her own spells inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Harriet travels to a land where the air is tinged with rose and gold and for the first time begins to experience what it is to live. But a chance meeting on the voyage to Alexandria results in a dangerous friendship as Louisa’s long-buried past returns, in the form of someone determined to destroy her by preying on her daughter. As Harriet journeys towards a destiny no one could have foreseen, her Aunt Yael is caught up in an Egypt on the brink of revolt and Louisa must confront the ghosts of her own youth.

    The Sacred River is an indelible depiction of the power of women and the influence they can have when released from the confines of proper English society. In the tradition of Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, writer Wendy Wallace spins a tale of three women caught between propriety and love on a journey of cultural awakening through an exquisitely drawn Egypt. Sumptuous and mesmerizing, this provocative novel about finding your rightful place in the world is a beautiful, tantalizing read.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribner
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781476764726
    The Sacred River: A Novel
    Author

    Wendy Wallace

    Wendy Wallace, author of The Painted Bridge, is an award-winning freelance journalist and writer. Before she turned to fiction, she was a senior features writer for the London Times Educational Supplement for ten years and the author of a nonfiction book on life in an inner city primary school, Oranges and Lemons. Her second novel is The Sacred River. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for The Sacred River

    3/5

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    • 1/5
      abandoned after about 70 pages. This story of a Victorian family who travel to Egypt for the sake of the daughter's consumptive lungs failed to grab me. By page 70 they were on board with the strange aunt, there was obviously some intrigue with the painter, Harriet had made friends with a newlywed who then suddenly gave birth (without there having been any indication of pregnancy at all)... it felt disjointed to me and wasn't hard to set aside.
    • 3/5
      It's the story about 3 women on a journey of a lifetime.

      First there is Harriet who is slowly fading away in London. The air is killing her. She is fascinated with ancient Egypt and gets her doctor to say that the fresh warm air would be best for her (and it is, just that was very far away.) She in her loneliness is actually something of a scholar. But at the same time she is very naive in her quest for freedom and to live.

      Louisa is her mother and her secret from the past comes back to haunt them. I wished she had just told the truth, but ok the truth is hard but still. It could have saved them some trouble.

      Yael is the aunt who is a devout Christian and see the plight of Egypt and wants to do something. And I did like what she did, she was no crusader, she was a humanitarian.

      They are all running from something in a away and the each find something more. Well, almost.

      A good story, an interesting location too.
    • 4/5
      3.5 Having recently recovered by an acute exacerbation of my asthma, I found myself thinking how lucky we are now with the all the treatments available. How many must of died in the past when so little could be done. I starts reading this and found one of the main characters, Harriet a Yung woman in her early twenties had been an invalid most of her life due to her serious asthma condition. This takes place in London in 1882, and her treatment seems to consist of various tincture and tonics, though they did use menthol and eucalyptus in steaming water to rest a mist. Sort of like today's nebulizer but the treatment of last resort seemed to be chloroform.Eventually her mother along with her aunt take her to Egypt, a place she had long been fascinated with. As an invalid books were her friends and her main area of interest was the tombs and hieroglyphics.In Egypt all three of these women would change and only one would return home. A voice from the past would attempt to arrange thing to his advantage with a look towards revenge.Enjoyed the time they spent Egypt, watching the women become different people. This was a time when spiritualists were very popular so the too was included in a few areas in the book. Her prose is very understated and the stories pacing is consistent. My favorite part though was reading about the Egyptian culture, and of course the tombs.A well done and well thought out second novel.
    • 4/5
      The theme of this work of historical fiction is the journey of self-discovery. Three women travel to Egypt in 1882, and their lives are changed as a result. Harriet Heron is 23; a severe asthmatic, she convinces her doctor to persuade her mother Louisa to take her to Egypt in hopes of improving her health. Harriet’s father Blundell agrees but insists that his spinster sister Yael accompany his wife and daughter. For Harriet, the trip is not just an attempt to ease her asthma; it is also an attempt to escape the sheltered life she has lived. Her parents, especially her mother, treat her like a child and make all decisions for her. “Her dream was to see for herself the tombs of the ancient Egyptians and study the hieroglyphs carved and painted by their hands. . . . Above all, she did not wish to end her days in the room in which she’d spent almost all her life.” She is like a heron hieroglyph she sees, “its pose curious and hesitant.” Because of the life she has led, she is rather naïve, but gradually she gains independence and confidence. Unfortunately, her journey’s end is rather predictable.Louisa experiences a rebirth, symbolized by a carved green malachite scarab she is given: “a symbol of rebirth.” It is her story that provides the most suspense in the novel. On the sea voyage to Egypt, she meets a man who knows some secret about her past and who decides “to wreak a revenge he’d awaited all his life.” She fears her husband “would cast her off. The life she had made for herself would be destroyed. Her sons would be disgraced by the knowledge of what their mother was and Harriet would see her as a stranger.”For me, it was Yael’s transformation that was most interesting. She reluctantly undertakes the trip, but once in Egypt, she, a devout Christian, is determined to make a difference. Indeed, she finds a sense of peace and purpose. Her symbol is the lizard which in climbing perpendicular walls is “defying laws of gravity and reason. She could do things here. It was this . . . that made Egypt a foreign country.” After some time away from England, Louisa has to admit that “Her sister-in-law had a presence and authority that were never apparent before.”The novel examines the perception of women in the Victorian Age. None of them can do anything without the approval of a man. The restrictions on women are clearly seen in Yael’s life. She is the one who has to look after her aged father: “It was unfair, Louisa thought privately, that the care of their father fell entirely to her sister-in-law. Blundell paid the bills but it was Yael who sat with the old man morning and evening, listened to his complaints, read the newspaper aloud from cover to cover.” Yet when her brother decides she must accompany Louisa and Harriet, she has no choice but to agree. The men in the novel are not portrayed in a very positive light. Other than the romantic hero who arrives on the scene, the men tend to be shallow and self-centred. One man refuses to blame his father for seducing powerless, innocent young girls; instead, he blames the girls for seducing his father. Another man shows an unbelievable callousness towards his wife who became pregnant with his child before their marriage. A missionary refuses to help a charity until he is bribed. There are some minor male characters who prove to be chivalrous, but they are the exception. The novel’s slow pace at the beginning may discourage some readers, but those who persist will come to know three strong women whose stories are entertaining and enlightening.Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

    Book preview

    The Sacred River - Wendy Wallace

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