Suitcase Down the Nile

by Nancy Means Wright

"Suitcase Down The A Spunky Woman's Transformational Journey Through Egypt" whisks readers away on an intimate pilgrimage to an ancient land filled with intrigue, confrontation and humor. This nonfiction account reads like a novel. It is highly engaging, yet there are serious elements in this work that will alter the reader's perceptions about Egypt, its monuments, its people, and the travel industry. It doesn't matter that other tourists have heeded the warning to stay away from Egypt during a period of social unrest. Though fundamentalists are shooting at tourists and attacking occasional tour busses, destiny overrides fear for one traveler armed with a dream, a journal and a roving eye. Once readers are drawn inside the author's head, they may not want to crawl out until the book's conclusion. On one level is a lesson in the workings of the tour group industry. The interpersonal dramas of a group of strangers thrust together in foreign, sometimes dangerous situations, with overt and clandestine struggles and a quirky leader are the framework of the book. There is crisis, humor and insight here that add a human touch to the travel and mysteries that enfold as the book progresses. The author lands in Cairo following an earthquake. Rubble becomes metaphor for the baggage the author brings with her. A unique aspect of this multi-layered work is its honesty and ability to help readers sort out their own dilemmas about meeting their shadow selves while trying to function in an interactive, often confusing world. A mystical thread weaves intuition and dreams into a parable about finding one's path. Historical sites are more than just piles of rocks with placards on them. Many sites have powers that go beyond the descriptions of ordinary tour book guides. There is energy (some call it “spirits”) that still inhabits the pyramids and Sphinx. Readers feel what it's like being pushed up the evolutionary ladder by forces still active inside the ancient healing temples dotting the Nile. As a Reiki practitioner, former teacher and newspaper reporter, Nancy Wright delves into the unseen with enlightening sensitivity. Readers will have one foot in a transformed reality while the other is immersed in just the right amount of Egyptian history, practical tips and suggestions about food, clothing

565 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2001

About the author

I'm the author of 18 books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, including 5 mystery novels from St. Martin's Press, 2 historical novels: Midnight Fires: a Mystery with Mary Wollstonecraft ('10)and the Nightmare ('11)from Perseverance Press.For those who don't know her, Wollstonecraft is the brilliant but rebellious and conflicted 18th century author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,and mother of Mary Shelley (think Frankenstein).
I've also published 2 mysteries for kids. The Pea Soup Poisonings, based on my own 4 kids'childhood shenanigans, won the '06 Agatha Award for Best Children's/YA Novel,and The Great Circus Train Robbery was a finalist. My latest mystery is Broken Strings, a spin-off from my St. Martin's Press novels with a puppeteer sleuth, and a novel, Walking up into the Wild for "tweens" (ages 10-14, set in 18th-century Vermont just before the end of the American Revolution. It's both suspenseful and romantic and based on family history. Not a mystery.
I've published poems and short fiction for Redbook, Seventeen, American Literary Review,Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and many literary journals and anthologies (Beacon Press, Ashland Poetry Press, Univ of Illinois Press, et al.).
A longtime actress & director,I'm a former Bread Loaf Scholar and Scholar for the Vermont Humanities Council. I live with my spouse and 2 Maine Coon cats in bucolic Middlebury, Vermont. "Becoming Mary Wollstonecraft" Facebook page.