Book Review for The Queens of London by Heather Webb

 The Queens of London by Heather Webb

Publication February 6, 2024

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Taken from Goodreads:  Maybe women can have it all, as long as they're willing to steal it. 1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She's ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family"—it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen. Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the "women's work" she's been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for—and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently. A tale of dark glamour and sisterhood, Queens of London is a look at Britain's first female crime syndicate, the ever-shifting meaning of justice, and the way women claim their power by any means necessary, from USA Today bestselling author Heather Webb.

 

My Thoughts:  Heather Webb has introduced me to a whole new world of thieves.  1925 is the time of Diamond Annie, AKA Alice, in London.   I love that she led a gang of women, Forty Elephants, doing heists in major department stores.   In exchange for these thefts, Alice offers her girls protection from the world around them.  I love the grit, the strength, and the wits that had to be shown to pull off their heists and to keep them out of jail. 

The other story, Hira’s story, was also interesting.  I love seeing this young girl’s will to make something of herself and her struggle with right and wrong.    Her understanding that to live on the streets sometimes you have to do the wrong thing but that does not make you a bad person showed how grown up she was.  While her life was not easy, she never gave up on making something of herself.

The Queens of London is a marvelous historical fiction book that tells of a part of history that I had not heard of before.  This book teaches me about history but also tells me a story that is new to me.   

Thank you Tall Poppy Writers for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Meet Heather Webb (taken from her website):  Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of nine historical novels, including her up and coming Queens of London set to release in 2024, and her most recent novels, The Next Ship Home and Strangers in the Night. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Meet Me in Monaco, was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to seventeen languages. She lives in New England with her family, a mischievous kitten, and one feisty rabbit.