My Review with Spoilers for The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis discusses the fact that I don’t usually review historical fiction. But since much of The Stolen Queen is set in 1970s New York City AND there’s a robbery of the Metropolitan Museum that needs to be solved, I decided I was in! Let’s discuss.
Jen’s Quick Take: The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis
- Overall I found this a really fun and entertaining story. If you worry about dry, boring historical fiction, this book is not!
- The Stolen Queen is a dual timeline, dual narrative historical fiction book with a hint of mystery
- The story alternates between New York in the late 1970s and Egypt in the 1930s
- Davis does a great job of picking interesting historical moments to connect: the decade after the discovery of King Tut’s Tomb in 1922, and the opening of The Temple of Dendur at the Met in 1978 and the King Tut artifacts museum tour in 1979
- My other favorite element was the incorporation of a real life person and event: Diana Vreeland, former Vogue editor and special consultant to the Met’s Costume Institute from 1972-1989. The Stolen Queen includes Met Gala 1978, which honored Sergei Diaghilev and his costumes for The Ballets Russes.
- There were several minor mysteries in the story: the theft of the “Cerulean Queen,” the reappearance of a priceless Egyptian necklace, and a missing persons case.
- To be published on January 7, 2025 by Dutton Books. 352 pages. Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.
Review with Spoilers for the Stolen Queen
My “quick take” was not that quick so I won’t have many more points to make!
And if you are reading this for book club, you can grab my Stolen Queen Book Club Guide here:
I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but I love stories set in New York City, love the Metropolitan Museum (I went there a few days ago to get some behind the scenes photos for the guide above!) and have an interest in Egyptian culture.
I was a little apprehensive going in, but Fiona Davis has made the story very readable with multiple strong female characters: Charlotte, a curator at the Met; Annie, a young woman who is interested in Egyptian culture and fashion; Diana Vreeland; and Hathorkare, a female pharaoh who was wronged by history!
The book also incorporates the real-life issue of art repatriation, explaining how and why priceless cultural artifacts ended up taken by Western archeologists and museums, and attempts to get them returned.
Davis clearly did a huge amount of research. Incorporating ALL these elements required a fair amount of info-dumping. Davis did this as artfully as possible, and it was necessary for readers not familiar with art repatriation, ancient Egypt, or archeology.
Overall, the blend of 1930s adventure/1970s culture was reader catnip for me!
Let’s delve into the mysteries of The Stolen Queen!
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Do you have other questions? If you would like a Stolen Queen Book Club Guide, which includes a character list, historical background material, Book Club Discussion Questions, and Book Club snack ideas, grab it below!