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Lord Ambrose Malfine is slowly becoming involved in the daily activities around his manor. He is still recovering from wounds he received during the war and would rather remove himself from society than interact with others. One of his neighbors, Lilian Westmorland, is involved in an accident with her horse. As Ambrose was once a friend with her father, he decides to look in on her. Something about the situation strikes him as fishy. Mr Overbury, Lilian's guardian, wants Lilian to travel to Cairo in order to leave the estate. Exactly what Overbury has planned is unknown but Ambrose fears that it does not bode well for Lilian. In fact, Ambrose is so worried that he chases after Lilian in order to protect her. He must stop Overbury from accomplishing his goal and keep Lilian save from harm before she can be further injured. In order to do this, he must confront cultural differences and societal rules which dictate the rules of appropriate behavior. THE EGYPTIAN COFFIN, as well as other books by Jane Jakeman, relies on character introspection in order to explore plot twists and character actions. The narrative of this book is split between Ambrose and Lilian. Ambrose is very introspective and tends to narrate as though he is confiding his innermost thoughts to the reader. Ambrose is the main character, but a lot part of the action in this book seems to happen without him. Lilian finds herself involved in situations that most Englishwomen would not. In order for Lilian's story to seem realistic and true, it is vital that she tells her own story rather than rely on Ambrose for the facts. When the book began, I found Lilian to be very young and somewhat flighty. She does not seem aware of the bigger picture and problems that effect those less fortunate than she does. While her home life is not ideal -- her father died before she was born and her mother died recently so her uncle has invaded her life -- she is still more fortunate than some of the characters that appear in Cairo. Throughout the book, her character grows and matures. Lilian slowly sees that the world can be an ugly place full of deceivers. She does grow up in this book, yet she does not become cynical or jaded. She manages to maintain the vibrancy of innocence without keeping the callowness of youth.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, October 2005
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