Plot holes the size of Texas

I've been looking over my NaNoWriMo novel from a couple years ago with the intention of rewriting it, and then using NaNo of this year to write the second book. (Yeah, I know, typical fantasy author can't seem to fit it all into one book. Oh well.) And I realised why exactly I've left it alone this long. It has plot holes the size of Texas.

And I don't mean plot holes that are easy to fill, like "This character came in from this room, when they should already be in that room." I mean the very essence of the plot, like "Why is this character doing any of this at all?" It occurred to me that while I love my plot, and my characters, and my story, I didn't have a reason for that particular character to be doing any of this. Truth be told, it would be much easier to have somebody else do it for all characters involved.

So I dug out the plot hole spackling.

With that, some extra research, and some very creative liberties, I've managed to fill most of the holes in my story. Only one now remains (as far as I can tell), but it's a biggie. The plot hinges on my main character not having any idea what happened in the history of this time period. If she simply went back in time and stayed there, this would not be an issue.

However, this is not the case. My main character goes back and forth between the modern world and ancient Egypt. With the presence of the internet, it is absolutely ridiculous to assume she just wouldn't look this stuff up the moment she got back. So, I need a reason for why she would not be able to get any information about the relevant history in the modern day.

... Right. Easy peasy. (Or not.)

So, I still have work to do. And unfortunately, since there is a good chunk of story in the modern world, I can't start rewriting until I have this solved. It's going to be an interesting couple of days while I work out this rather thorny problem.