Wrapped tells the story of Agnes Wilkins, a debutante whose thoughts and interests are decidedly not appropriate to a debutantes. She is poised, so to speak, on the cusp of womanhood, about to make her debut into high society so that the most eligible bachelor can snap her up. Only, she’s not sure at all that she wants to be snapped up. Or even if she’s ready for marriage. Then she attends a mummy unwrapping (apparently, this used to be great entertainment for the ton back in the days. I can see archaeologists swooning right now at the idea of such willful destruction) and things get very complicated.You see, Agnes has a genius for languages. She knows about ten and most of them she has taught herself. This is quite an extraordinary feat, you guys. And an entirely admirable one. Anyway, so things happen and she realizes that the “artifact” she found in the mummy reveals a plot of Napoleon’s. A plot against England. So she teams up with a boy whose name I can’t remember for the life of me to unravel the plot and find the true artifact.The book does have a slow start but it picks up pace and becomes a delightful romp through museums, hospitals and gardens. We stare down the barrels of gardens and shimmy down the vine from bedrooms. We see a love affair breaking down and indulge in some heart palpitations of our own where certain boy whose name I can’t remember is concerned. What I most like is Agnes’s habit of translating lines from an Austen novel into different languages. She is not even aware that she is doing it – in fact, it’s a habit when she gets too nervous.Wrapped does give a glimpse of how frustrating life must have been for a woman who refuses to conform to societal expectations where gender expressions are concerned. In fact, it is frustrating even now. How many times have you heard or have been told to “behave like a girl?”The end is a triumph not just for England but for the female gender as Agnes breaks stereotypes and moves on to a new stage in her life – one that doesn’t contain numerous visits to the dressmakers and tittering over tea.
