A review by jo_cbooks
The Diamond of London by Andrea Penrose

adventurous emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

The Diamond of London is a historical fiction novel based on the early life of Lady Hester Stanhope. It is written as her biography/diary and explores her life in England before she found her ‘claim to fame’ in the Mediterranean. 

My first reaction when I started this book (which I wrote down) was “Oh my goodness this is like HISTORICAL historical fiction?! Oh I am so excited. And written in epistolary? It couldn’t be better.” Because when I started reading I had not refreshed my memory on the fact that this was based on an actual historical figure. I am a sucker for strong females in history, and discovering someone else to fawn over and admire has been a pleasure! 

The book was intriguing, enlightening, and entertaining. I felt transported to Victorian England with my blood boiling because of the injustice of how women were treated. Lady Hester was a force of nature defending her morals and fighting against the grain of society expectations. I really liked how the author chose to focus on her earlier years in England rather than her later years in the Levant that she is much more known for. It felt like a window into what drove Lady Hester to truly become the woman that historians remember her as today. 

My only draw back with the book was that the spelling was American, despite the book being written like a diary of an English woman. I feel that British spelling should have been used to reflect the fact that the ‘author’ of the diary was English.  

Overall, the effort that Andrea Penrose put in to research and understand the person that Lady Hester Stanhope was is reflected in the book. And not only the research of Lady Hester, but also the historical figures that migrated in and out of her life in England. 

*thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*