Of Gold and Shadows (Time’s Lost Treasures)
In 1888 England, the British Museum, just over a century old, hungrily absorbed archaeological artifacts with little care for their provenance. At least that’s what Egyptologist Ami Dalton experiences, as she runs a dangerous sideline in rescuing black-market artifacts while also filling her father’s shoes in his absence from Oxford. It is so unfair that he can leave England for exciting digs in Egypt, while she is stranded at home, struggling against the expectations of the time to create her own career as an expert.
So when London’s most eligible bachelor shows up looking for her father’s expertise, and clearly doesn’t expect much of Ami, how can she resist: “I am the professor’s daughter,” she declares, “a rescuer of forgotten fragments, a story guardian of the past, a fervent believer in bringing history to life for the masses. There is no one on this campus who knows as much about Egyptian relics as I do.”
It’s enough to enter her into the job for which Edmund Price expected to hire her father: evaluating a boatload of antiquities. But in her dive into the materials, Ami discovers an item that should never have been taken out of Egypt. In addition to its cultural value, it supposedly carries a curse. Villainous attacks on Ami and Edmund could be related to that—or to the enormous value of what they handle.
Fear and danger add spice. Edmund eventually knows he values Ami more for herself than for her prodigious expertise. Will the conventions of the period allow them to reach the comfort of deep and lasting love for each other? Griep crafts a charming and suspenseful plot laden with English delight and believable twists of adventure and romance.
