This book is incredible. I couldn’t put it down. It’s so well done. I was not ready for the end.

This book tells the story of Princess Aina (better known as Princess Sarah Bonetta Forbes), and how she went from being the youngest daughter of a king to the god daughter of Queen Victoria of England. It’s so unbelievable that I’ve never heard of her until now, it’s such an amazing story. It opens with her birth and then walks the reader through what would be the first of so many losses and describes how, rescued on the brink of being sacrificed, she became the god daughter of the Queen Victoria- grew up as playmates with her her children.

This book describes the feeling of a child having grew up in Yoruba, seeing a white person for the first time, experiencing veiled and sometimes unveiled racism for the first time and not having any prior knowledge or experience with racism to be able to understand that her skin tone predisposed her to judgement in Great Britain. And despite these things, she loved the Queen and England. This book held so many of the complexities of humanity and it was moving to see her learn about and discover the world around her while navigating the traumas she faced from her past. This book did for me what any good historical fiction novel should, it inspired me to learn more about Sarah Bonetta Forbes. If I had any critique, it would be that the end was so swift moving and there was a bit of reading between the lines to understand what was going on. I assume this is due to the lack of information available about her life during this period and the author’s commitment to the facts. Either way. I still loved reading and learning about her life. I wish her existence was better known and this book is such a great step in that direction. I so appreciate being able to trust an authors research in historical fiction and Denny S Bryce did not disappoint. Even down to the stench of the Thames River - I went and had to find out if she was from Great Britain, but she is a very well researched American. I can’t wait to read more from her!

A special thanks to William Morrow and Company and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've been a fan of Denny S. Bryce since Wild Women and the Blues, and when I learned that she was writing a historical fiction about Sarah Forbes Bonetta, I was thrilled. I first learned about Sarah Forbes Bonetta from Walter Dean Myers's amazing children's biography, and knew that she would deliver a captivating story.

Sarah's extraordinary life, from being kidnapped as a young child to entering the exclusive court of Queen Victoria, falling out of favor when she (at first) refused to marry the man the Queen intended for her, and returning to Africa, is rendered in vivid and compelling detail. This is Bryce's best novel by far. This is a must read for historical fiction fans.

Many thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.