Tag: Reading Challenges

About the Book

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

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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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About the Book

1770. Delphine lives in the shadows of London: a secret, vibrant world of smugglers, courtesans and small rebellions. Four years ago, she escaped enslavement at great personal cost. Now, she must help her brother Vincent do the same.

While Britain’s highest court fails to administer justice for Vincent, little rebellions are no longer enough. What’s needed is a big, explosive plot – one that will strike at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade. But can one Black woman, one fuse and one match bring down an Empire?

Format: eARC (336 pages) Publisher: HarperNorth
Publication date: 29th February 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

Remember, Remember begins as a campaign for justice, moves – after a pivotal event – to a quest for vengeance and, latterly, to a daring plan to bring about radical social change.

Vincent’s trial, which forms the first section of the book and is inspired by an actual case, exposes the conflict between the right to personal liberty and the financial interests of those who have profited from slavery and the products of slavery. But if you’re rich and powerful, perhaps you can ignore the findings of a court and impose your own form of justice, with even Parliament unable to uphold an individual’s democratic rights.

Contemporary resonances are not difficult to find; the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement being the obvious ones. At the same, the reader is immersed in the world of 18th century London from gentleman’s clubs to brothels, from wide streets to stinking alleys. Although the book possesses many of the hallmarks of a period adventure story – a secret conspiracy, underground tunnels, deception, betrayal and perilous escapes – its cast of characters is distinctively diverse in terms of race and sexuality.

The cruelty of slave owners towards those they view as their ‘property’ is epitomised by Lord Harvey. Ruthless, implacable and sadistic, I felt the author managed – just – to keep him from being a pantomime villain. I found some of the scenes towards the end of the book in which his true nature is revealed difficult to read.

Initially focused on achieving justice for Vincent, Delphine gradually has her eyes opened to the many other injustices in society, things that are also in desperate need of change. But when peaceful protest brings no results or is suppressed, what other options do you have? The radical solution at which Delphine eventually arrives brings a moral dilemma; essentially, do the ends ever justify the means? Personally, I found her decision problematic and its result just a little too convenient. Having said that, Remember, Remember is a bold and inventive debut novel.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of HarperNorth via NetGalley.

In three words: Imaginative, thought-provoking, immersive
Try something similar: Babel by R. F. Kuang

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About the Author

Elle Machray grew up in Birmingham to Welsh–Caribbean and Scottish parents, and is now based in Edinburgh. After graduating from the HarperCollins Author Academy in spring 2021, their debut novel Remember, Remember was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Prize, judged by Hilary Mantel. In the fleeting moments between writing and working, you can find Elle on social media talking about neurodivergence, books and a never-ending quest to relax. (Photo: X profile)

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