The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

 "Also part of these Coffin Texts was the Book of Two Ways, the first known map of the afterlife. It was found only in certain coffins in Middle Egypt during the Middle Kingdom, usually painted on the bottom. It showed two roads snaking through Osiris's realm of the dead: a land route, black, and a water route, blue, which are separated by a lake of fire. If you follow the map, it's like choosing between taking the ferry or driving around---both ways wind up in the same place: the  Field of Offerings, where the deceased can feast with Osiris for eternity."

                                      -from the novel

I have read several of Jodi Picoult's novels and, although I am still a fan, I can't say this is one of my favorites. I almost gave up on it before 50 pages had been turned. This was a far cry from the last couple of books I have read---longer, much more intense and centered around Egyptology, a subject about which I knew precious little. As often happens, the more I read, the more invested I was in seeing it through. 

Dawn Edelstein is a death doula, which is a career completely new to me. In this role she helps people to die with dignity, guiding the terminal person and their family through many end-of-life concerns. Dawn describes herself as a "general contractor of death." She takes on a new patient, Win, who has a last wish, involving her past which feeds into some regrets Dawn, herself, has tried to stifle. 

Fifteen years prior, Dawn was a grad student involved with an archaeology project in Egypt with Wyatt Armstrong who became more than a coworker, if you know what I mean. Although she is now living in Boston with her husband Brian and teenaged daughter Meret, she has never really stopped thinking of Wyatt, her first love. When she decides to return to Egypt to try to finish some of the work she had left behind, she and Wyatt are reunited and one can guess that things will get complicated.

I certainly learned a lot of Egyptian history and mythology---almost TMI! Words like hieratic, dipinto, and nomarch left me scratching my head. Picoult's story goes back and forth in time and between Land/Egypt and Water/Boston, leaving me confused at times. The title seems doubly appropriate in that Dawn is faced with "two ways" into her future.

Ms. Picoult is a masterful storyteller and so adept at eliciting emotions. I am glad I finished the book. I give it a 4.