Tuesday, March 4, 2025

REVIEW: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis


REVIEW:

After reading The Stolen Queen, you better believe I will be reading Fiona Davis's backlist. I found the story to be well researched and engaging as it flips between the stories of Annie and Charlotte, two women who find themselves with a common end goal. 

The Stolen Queen starts with the story of Charlotte as she reflects on her life as a young woman in Egypt, trying to make a career as an anthropologist. We learn about her experiences there, interspersed with her current day life, working at the Met. As we get to know her and understand how and why she's where she is, we also get to know Annie. Annie is a young woman, struggling to make ends meet and to find her place in the world. Just when it seems like she's found something that might be a good fit, her entire world gets flipped upside down because of a heist at the Met. Through a series of related events, she and Charlotte work together to try to find the stolen work and get answers to  how it all went down. 

The stories of Charlotte and Annie were interesting and hard to put down. This isn't my normal read, and I'm so glad I picked it up. If you like historical fiction, pick this one up. 


SYNOPSIS:

From New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, an utterly addictive new novel that will transport you from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

Egypt, 1936: When anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, she leaps at the opportunity. But after an unbearable tragedy strikes, Charlotte knows her future will never be the same.

New York City, 1978: Eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins is thrilled when she lands an opportunity to work for iconic former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala, hosted at the museum and known across the city as the “party of the year.” Though Annie soon realizes she’ll have her work cut out for her, scrambling to meet Diana’s capricious demands and exacting standards.

Meanwhile, Charlotte, now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art, wants little to do with the upcoming gala. She’s consumed with her research on Hathorkare—a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant.

That is, until the night of the gala. When one of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing . . . and there are signs Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening.

As Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt. But if they’re to have any hope of finding the artifact, Charlotte will need to confront the demons of her past—which may mean leading them both directly into danger.

 

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