The Stolen Queen is a dual-time line story split between Egypt in 1936 and New York in 1978. In the earlier timeline, Charlotte Cross, a budding archeologist, falls in love with a fellow Egyptologist then faces an horrific tragedy that upends her life. She returns to her family in New York and refuses to ever return to Egypt. In 1978, she’s become an associate curator in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Department of Egyptian Art.
A second character, eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins lands a job as an assistant to the famous fashionista, Diana Vreeland, who’s overseeing the Met Gala.
The two women meet when Vreeland demands the use of a broad necklace from the Department of Egyptian Art to use with a costume display and sends Annie to demand it. The night of the gala, a piece of Egyptian art disappears, and the two women team up to look for it. Charlotte must return to Egypt to face her demons.
I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Met and am always fascinated by anything related to Egypt. However, I felt Davis’s efforts to tie all the loose ends together stretches the bounds of believability and results in a less satisfying, almost too-good-to-feel-true ending.
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The Stolen Queen (Random House, January 7, 2025) is available through:
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