Teen Fiction - Girls & Young Women, Teen Fiction - Mysteries & Thrillers, Teen Fiction - Historical Fiction

Wrapped (Lib)(CD)

Name: Wrapped (Lib)(CD)
Author: Jennifer Bradbury
ISBN: 9781416990086

by Jennifer Bradbury

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Overview

Agnes Wilkins is standing in front of an Egyptian mummy, about to make the first cut into the wrappings, about to unlock ancient (and not-so-ancient) history.

Maybe you think this girl is wearing a pith helmet with antique dust swirling around her.

Maybe you think she is a young Egyptologist who has arrived in Cairo on camelback.

Maybe she would like to think that too. Agnes Wilkins dreams of adventures that reach beyond the garden walls, but reality for a seventeen-year-old debutante in 1815 London does not allow for camels—or dust, even. No, Agnes can only see a mummy when she is wearing a new silk gown and standing on the verdant lawns of Lord Showalter’s estate, with chaperones fussing about and strolling sitar players straining to create an exotic “atmosphere” for the first party of the season. An unwrapping.

This is the start of it all, Agnes’s debut season, the pretty girl parade that offers only ever-shrinking options: home, husband, and high society. It’s also the start of something else, because the mummy Agnes unwraps isn’t just a mummy. It’s a host for a secret that could unravel a new destiny—unleashing mystery, an international intrigue, and possibly a curse in the bargain.

Get wrapped up in the adventure . . . but keep your wits about you, dear Agnes.

Synopsis

An adventurous debutante refuses to settle for society’s expectations—and unleashes international intrigue (and possibly an ancient curse) along the way.

Agnes Wilkins is standing in front of an Egyptian mummy, about to make the first cut into the wrappings—about to unlock ancient (and not-so-ancient) history. She sees herself wearing a pith helmet with antique dust swirling around her. She sees herself as a young Egyptologist who has arrived in Cairo on camelback.
She sees herself dreaming. Because reality for a seventeen-year-old debutante in 1815 London does not allow for camels—or dust even. No, Agnes’s encounter with a mummy is happening on Lord Showalter’s verdant green lawn, where butlers abound and strolling sitar players strain to create an exotic “atmosphere” for the first party of the season. An unwrapping.
And a beginning. Not just of Agnes’s debut season and the ever-shrinking scope of her future—home, husband, and high society. No, something else begins as well, because the mummy Agnes unwraps is more than a mummy: It’s a host for a secret that could unravel a new destiny—unleashing a mystery, an international intrigue—and possibly a curse.

About the Author, Jennifer Bradbury

Jennifer Bradbury is the author of A Moment Comes, Wrapped, and her debut novel, Shift. Shift—which Kirkus Reviews gave a starred review, calling it “fresh, absorbing, compelling”—was picked as an ALA and a School Library Journal Best Book for Young Adults and is also on numerous state reading lists. A former English teacher and one-day Jeopardy! champ, she lives with her family in Burlington, Washington.

Reviews

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Editorials

Children's Literature - Cynthia Levinson

Sixteen-year-old Agnes Wilkins adores her mother but, because her mother wants her to end her education (Agnes speaks ten languages and loves reading her contemporary, Jane Austen) and marry a wealthy nobleman after her forthcoming debut, Agnes does not want to be like her mother. Instead, she would like to an Egyptologist. So, when she agrees to help Lord Showalter, her mother's favorite, unwrap a mummy he has bought, she makes off with a small metal carving of a jackal's head. The title of this fast-paced, multiple-layered historical-novel-cum-mystery refers literally to the mummy, whose unwrapping becomes associated with a murder and robberies, international intrigue. And there are fears plus a curse. It also refers symbolically to Agnes' escape from the binding expectations of her mother and her social class. Meanwhile, Napoleon, who is threatening England, wants her carving! Daring and sly, Agnes negotiates her way through these threats and strictures, including her mother's fury at her indiscretions and her discovery that Showalter is actually spying on her long-absent father for Napoleon. At her debut, the Duke of Wellington himself thanks her for helping to save her country. Melodramatic and thoroughly improbable as it is, the story is grounded in research about its time and place and provides a suspenseful yarn along with lessons about history, literature, and feisty females. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—On the eve of her debut into 19th-century London society, 18-year-old Agnes Wilkins wishes her life promised more than wearing the right dress for the right party in hopes of finding a suitable husband. She longs for passion like Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy share in the novels of "A Lady." At a "mummy unwrapping party," Lord Showalter hands her a pair of scissors and encourages her to make a cut into the sarcophagus wrappings, where she uncovers a silver jackal's head and impulsively hides it in her dress. Soon after her subterfuge, a suspicious-looking waiter follows her and, ultimately, turns up dead. Agnes is too scared to confess her theft and instead heads to the British Museum to try to find some answers. There she encounters Caedmon, a self-taught man with a passion for Egyptian artifacts. The pair discovers that the artifact is actually a hidden message intended for a spy with allegiance to Napoleon Bonaparte. With only an elderly former English intelligence officer to assist them, the two embark on a mission to stop the French dictator before he harnesses ancient Egyptian magic that would render him unbeatable in battle. The closer the young people get toward solving the mystery, the more dangerous the stakes become. Bradbury offers a grand historical mystery with a pinch of supernatural intrigue and a hint of romance. Readers will be swept up in Agnes's life but may feel beaten over the head with the message that women lacked power during this era. An extremely happy ending leaves room for a possible sequel for those who can't get enough of Agnes and Caedmon's adventures.—Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

An 1815 parlor diversion leads to a fizzy, frothy caper. Agnes is a Regency debutante with an inquisitive mind, a nose for trouble and some not-insignificant feminist objections to the process of finding a husband. When she pockets the trinket she finds among the linens at her neighbor's mummy-unwrapping party, she unwittingly sets off a series of catastrophes will that include burglaries, violent attacks and murder. Her guilt drives her to investigate the mysteries surrounding the mummy and the party guests, drawing her into a tenuous partnership with a British Museum janitor while at the same time dodging the advances of Lord Showalter, the party's host and the most sought-after suitor in London. The secrets she uncovers have consequences both personal and political, giving her quest a heightened urgency. Bradbury weaves Egyptology, Napoleonic conquest and a flirtation with the supernatural into a spy thriller that is a marked departure from her 2008 debut, Shift.The story is steeped in the historical details of the period, even as the author's note outlines the liberties taken with the timeline. Austen fans who wish her characters would get up off their settees and risk an adventure will enjoy Bradbury's smart, feisty heroine (who is herself an avid reader of A Lady). (Mystery. 12 & up)