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About the Book

Book cover of The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce

A princess enslaved becomes goddaughter to a queen.

By the time she was seven years old, Aina had been born into life as an Egbado princess, witnessed the brutal killing of her entire family, and had been enslaved to a rival chieftain. With a death sentence hanging over her head, she would also face being bartered as an exotic trophy, renamed and presented to the distant Queen Victoria as a ‘gift’.

From traumatic beginnings, Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s will to survive led her to negotiate Her Majesty’s court, cultivate friends in high places and to flourish in a world far removed from her rural African upbringing.

Format: eARC (384 pages) Publisher: Allison and Busby
Publication date: 22nd Fabruary 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

The Other Princess is the story of Aina, an Egbado princess saved from a brutal death at the hands of a rival African tribe or a life of enslavement, and brought to England as a ‘gift’ to Queen Victoria, becoming the Queen’s goddaughter. Renamed Sarah Forbes Bonetta, she is taught English and educated with a view to becoming a Christian missionary. Her fear of being returned to Africa and her eagerness to remain close to the royal household means she is forced to conform to expectations of how she should behave. This often involves her taming her independent spirit and suppressing her cultural identity. One gets the sense of her being a kind of social experiment; the turning of a ‘savage’ into an acceptable member of English society. And one, moreover, who will be expected to engage in reinforcing British colonialism in Africa and converting its people to Christianity.

Told in the first person, Sarah comes across as resilient, brave and intelligent. She quickly masters English and becomes a gifted pianist. There’s a nice scene in which she surprises Queen Victoria with her musical skill. Sarah’s life becomes one of relative privilege, for instance she forms a close friendship with Princess Alice, one of Queen Victoria’s daughters. And, as any young girl might, she enjoys the fancy clothes and parties that come with life close to the royal household. But this privilege comes at the price of inability to make her own life choices. This is starkly demonstrated towards the end of the book when Sarah is forced by the Queen, overwhelmed with grief at the death of Prince Albert, to make a difficult decision between pursuing her heart or being consigned to a life of penury. If I have one criticism of the book, it’s that the pacing seemed slightly off with the final years of Sarah’s life – which were actually quite eventful – covered relatively quickly.

The Other Princess is a fascinating, eye-opening story of survival but one tinged with sadness.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of Allison and Busby via NetGalley.

In three words: Fascinating, enlightening, well-researched
Try something similar: The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho by Paterson Joseph

About the Author

Denny S. Bryce’s previous novels include Wild Women and the Blues and In the Face of the Sun. Bryce is a professor on the MFA Creative Writing programme at Drexel University, a book critic for NPR, and has written for USA Today and Harper’s Bazaar. She traces her family back to Jamaica, Bermuda and Nigeria, the birthplace of Sarah Forbes Bonetta. Bryce lives in Savannah, Georgia. (Photo: Goodreads author page)

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New arrivals

Two books on the longlist for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 and a book club pick.

A Better Place by Stephen Daisley (Text Publishing) Longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize 2024

The old people in the district would often say that Roy was not quite the same after he come back. There was a brother. A twin brother, Tony. Tony Mitchell, different boy but a good rugby player. Bit of a mental case, they said, but Roy would have none of it. He always stayed close to Tony when they were growing up. They both went off to fight, must have been 1940. Only the one come back, though.

Crete, they thought. We lost Tony over there.

For they great pain have mercy on my little pain by Victoria Mackenzie (Bloomsbury) Longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize 2024

In the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in the city of Norwich.

Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ – which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband’s abuse – have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic.

Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty-three years. She has told no one of her own visions – and knows that time is running out for her to do so.

The two women have stories to tell one another. Stories about girlhood, motherhood, sickness, loss, doubt and belief; revelations more the powerful than the world is ready to hear. Their meeting will change everything.

Addie Moore’s husband died years ago, so did Louis Waters’ wife, and, as neighbours in Holt, Colorado they have naturally long been aware of each other.

With their children now far away both live alone in houses empty of family. The nights are terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk to.

Then one evening Addie pays Louis an unexpected visit.