Water Like Stone — John Leslie Evans

Water Like Stone is an international adventure and love story told against a backdrop of Egyptian archaeology and aviation. Ian Cannasy, an American expatriate operating an air charter in Uganda narrates the story of Osa Hensley, a young woman who will alter his life. From childhood, Osa is intrigued by the photograph of her great grandfather that hangs from a wall of her grandmother's home. The man is posed over a fallen obelisk covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs. Over his shoulder are snow capped peaks of a towering mountain range. At the age of ten, the conundrum of the snow capped peaks and the Egyptian monument, starts Osa on research that will lead her to a career in archaeology. She learns the obelisk commemorates one of the greatest of the pharaohs and no mountains exists in Egypt like the ones in the photo. As an adult working a dig in Egypt, Osa uncovers a clay tablet that speaks of a mountain like the one in the photo. She begins a search for the mountain and the obelisk, and if successful will turn Egyptology upside down. On her quest she will be betrayed, her career threatened, and her life endangered by political upheaval. She will encounter academic treachery and religious fanaticism, discover the passion of a first love and her own capacity for self sacrifice, and experience heartbreak and redemption. Her journey will take her from the halls of academia to the sands of the Sahara Desert and the rainforests of central Africa.