Fictional account of Alice Diamond, aka Diamond Annie, queen of the Forty Elephants, a shoplifting ring that was active post-WWI. This was fascinating and fun and starred other actual people, such as Lilian Wiles, female Scotland Yard inspector. Lilian is trying to make a big score of arresting Alice and her gang so that she can keep her job and perhaps stop working the "security" beat. Alice will do anything to keep her title, even if she longs for a better way of life. Real events make up this amazing piece of historical fiction. I loved getting to know these women!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Landmark Sourcebooks for this e-arc.*

3.75 raised to 4

This story follows four females. Alice Diamond, head of the notorious Forty Elephants female gang, protector and enforcer. Lillian Wyles, inspector at Scotland Yard, fighting an uphill battle on chauvinism and desperately needing a high profile arrest to prove herself. Hira Wickham, a sweet child fleeing an abusive uncle and taking matters into her own hands. Dorothy McBride, store clerk looking for a husband and finding strength in herself.

While I enjoyed these carefully crafted storylines and characters, I had a hard time initially getting into it. Once I focused on each character and let go of trying to figure out how it all tied together, the story took off. I enjoyed all the characters, each stayed true to who they were. The secondary characters, especially a favorite faithful sidekick Biscuit, were just as endearing. This is a sad look into the choices females of a certain class had in the 1920’s to survive. Webb painted a vivid picture of four different women and their growth, strengths and weaknesses. I enjoyed how each woman, in her own way, found their self worth without it revolving around a man.

Thanks to NetGalley and SourceLandmark for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Well done historical fiction based in fact. Set in London just after WWI, the Queens of London is all about found family and female empowerment (albeit in crime). Alice - AKA Diamond Annie- runs the Forty Elephants shoplifting ring that steals frequently from the shop where Dorothy works and which is the target of Lilian, the rare female police officer of the period. Then there's 10 year old Hira, who has run away from boarding school. These four are on a sort of collision course. It's nicely atmospheric and both the characters and the storytelling are engaging. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Some of my regular readers will know that a while back, I spent a week in Ireland with Heather Webb and Eliza Knight. During our week, Heather told me about this book, and I have to say that I was a tiny bit wary, because I had recently read two novels about Alice Diamond (aka Diamond Annie). One by Breezy Marsh called “The Queen of Thieves,” and another called “The Forty Elephants” by Erin Bledsoe. Both of these books were good, but neither of them totally wowed me. From our conversations, I realize that all three of these books look at different parts of Alice Diamond’s life. This book focuses more on Alice’s later years when she was at the height, although nearing the end, of her criminal career with her gang. So, without much overlap between them, I was assured that I’d get a slightly different Alice than I’d read about before.

But the thing is, this book isn’t just about Alice. There are three other female characters in this book as well. One of them – Lilian Wyles seems to share the spotlight with Alice, and like Alice, was a real person. While Alice wasn’t the first leader of a female gang of thieves, albeit the most famous (or infamous) of them all, Lilian was a true trailblazer in her field. Wyles was one of the first female police officers of Scotland Yard, and became the first woman to reach the rank of Chief Inspector. The two others – a young, orphaned girl named Hira and a shopgirl named Dorothy – play slightly smaller, but necessary pivotal, roles. I’m guessing that writing a novel with this many significant characters can’t be easy, especially when there is also a slew of minor characters filling out the cast. Admittedly, I worried about that for a bit (my dyslexia can make it hard for me to keep lots of names straight), but thankfully, that only troubled me very slightly, and only at the beginning of reading this novel.

More importantly was if I was able to sympathize or empathize with these characters? Since I already knew about Alice, I was glad to see that Webb portrayed her as someone both tough, and someone who felt she had few choices in her world, and would have been happier if she’d been able to avoid a life of crime. I won’t say I admired Alice, but I did care about her. Of course, I worried about both Hira and Dorothy, and I liked them both well enough. However, it was Lilian that I truly fell in love with (and I was a good girl and only looked her up AFTER I finished reading this book). She’s my favorite type of person to read about in historical fiction novels; a woman we know little to nothing about, who did amazing things with her life, and was far ahead of her time. It makes me believe that women really could do a better job than men in running this crazy world!

Okay, philosophy aside, I think Webb has a real winner here. Not only was this book vividly written, with passages that bordered on poetry, but the story was so well laid out, and with such intense action scenes, that it was practically unputdownable. And yes, she got me to cry. Mind you, it wasn’t about Alice or Hira (who were the obvious choices throughout most of the book), and not even about the death of one character (who didn’t deserve to die), but rather about Lilian. I’d say more but… sorry, no spoilers, so if you want to know what brought tears to my eyes, you’ll just have to read this novel! Therefore, I can unequivocally recommend this novel and give it a rating of a full five out of five stars.

In London in 1925, Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, an all-girl gang. and the first female crime syndicate. Alice is ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family". but she also takes really good care of her "girls". Unfortunately for Alice, Officer Lilian Wyles of Scotland Yard. is tired of being assigned "women's work" and is determined to prove herself as a detective & make a name for herself, so she has her sights set on capturing Alice and the rest of the Forty Elephants.

I was initially drawn to this book because of the cover and the premise. I had never heard of Diamond Annie or the Forty Elephants before and was intrigued with the idea of the first female crime syndicate, especially when that same syndicate was being taken down by one of the first female detectives of Scotland Yard. Think about it..... female empowerment on both sides of the law.! I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author did an excellent job bringing all of the characters to life. I felt like I was actually there watching it all unfold. If you are a fan of historical fiction, or even just love a story with a strong female protagonist, then you definitely need to check this out!

QUEENS OF LONDON by Heather Webb is a fascinating historical novel depicting the dark criminal underbelly of London just after World War I. It tells of a famous all-female shoplifting gang, The Forty Elephants, led by the Queen, Alice Diamond, AKA “Diamond Annie. It is also the story of Officer Lilian Wyles, one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard. She longs to work on the big cases, but instead gets assigned work considered more appropriate for women. Taking down Diamond Annie and her dynasty would give Lilian the chance to prove herself as good, if not better, than her male colleagues and gain their respect. This is a story of sisterhood, justice and loyalty with strong female characters and plenty of action and intrigue. I found myself transported to London in 1925 by the vivid descriptions. It is clear how well-researched this story is. Don’t miss the informative Author’s Note at the end to see which characters are based on real-life people and which are fictional. I enjoyed this engrossing and exciting story and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an early copy.

It's London in 1925; the town is still resetting from the Great War and a group of savvy, young women are becoming a well oiled all-female crime syndicate called The Forty Elephants. Lead by Alice Diamond, or "Diamond Annie" as dubbed by the papers, the group is getting prepped for a big job. One that will allow them to live the high life for awhile and afford some security for the group. However, Lilian Wyles, the first female detective at Scotland Yard, id not about to let this scenario play out under watch.

In Queens of London, Heather Webb creates a historical fiction novel with facts but also with an intriguing and action filled plot. She allows the readers to get a real feel for the streets of London post WWI. Illustrating equally the wealth of some and the scarcity of others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read this novel.

** Book Review ** Out Feb 6

I have been lucky to have already read some great reads this year and The Queens of London is certainly one of them.

This historical fiction novel by the talented Heather Webb is based on the true story of an all-female shoplifting crime ring, the Forty Elephants, in London, England, in the 1920s.

We see the story unfold through the eyes of Alice, the tough, conflicted leader of the ring, Hira, a loveable orphaned 10 year old girl, Dorothy, a young, underestimated department saleswoman, and Lilian, a female police woman with Scotland Yard, which was quite rare in that time period. This is a story of found family, loyalty, justice and what it means, desperation, discrimination, poverty, and female empowerment. The characters were well developed and there were parts of each of them that I could relate to.

The author says in her Author’s Note that she could see the story like a movie reel playing behind her eyes and that is exactly how I felt reading this novel. The writing was easy to read, flowed well, and was very descriptive and the pacing was smooth and even. I felt like I was in the world created by the author. Wonderful fiction like this is why I love to read. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Review to be posted to IG on Feb 5.

This is a fast paced book. It’s about four women trying to live and survive in London. All four different and from opposite sides of life.
I liked all four but especially liked Hira. She was strong and smart. She really stole the story, I think.
It’s another really good book by this author.

Heather Webb is an auto-buy author for me and Queens of London may be her best book yet. I love a story about strong and take-charge women and the women in 1925 London were just that!!!

Diamond Annie is the leader of an all-girls crime group. Lillian is an investigator who is desperate to capture Annie and her gang. Hira is a young girl who runs away from a horrible situation and finds herself on the streets and taken in by Annie. This story is filled with so much action and intrigue and also heart…like all Heather Webb books!!!

5 HUGE stars for this amazing book! Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the honor to read and review this book!!!

A diverse, strong female cast characters dominates this story. The Queens of London is a quick read, challenging the reader to choose which side of law you stand with these women. Set in the 1920's, we follow a female gang called, The Forty Elephants, has they execute heists at local department stores throughout the city.

This historical fiction novel was utterly fascinating with its characters spanning various ages, and their fight for survival even if it means breaking the law.

Thank you, Sourcebooks Landmark

What a fun adventure! This enjoyable historical fiction meets crime drama taught me about a new person in history, Alice Diamond aka Diamond Annie, Queen of the Forty Elephants, England's most notorious female gang. Other main characters were Lillian, a female police officer trying to make her way in a male-dominated workforce, Hira, an orphan and runaway from a mean uncle who wants to be loved, and Dorothy, a lovely shop girl who learns the hard way how to trust others.

Overall, this was a fun one! Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley!

One word review: spectacular! This one was literally unputdownable for me. I alternated between digital and audio so that when I couldn’t sit down and read I could still listen to the story. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. There were so many interesting characters. Diamond Annie, Hira, Lilian and Dorothy were all unforgettable. The story itself and the character development were incredible - - another home run from Heather Webb. The narrator was wonderful as well.

I found this a very enjoyable book, about a gang of female thieves set in the 1920s.

Alice Diamond (aka Diamond Annie) is the leader/queen of the female gang, called The Forty Elephants, and organises the groups of girls thieving, mainly in department stores. She runs a tight ship and doesn't suffer fools gladly, but has a slight soft spot when she meets Hira, a 10 year old orphan living on the streets that she takes under her wing and brings into The Forty Elephants.

But Hira isn't your usual orphan, she's run away from her horrible rich uncle when he decided to put her in a boarding school after her parents died. Her mother was Indian so she looks slightly different from the other orphans wandering the streets of London, especially since she has perfect manners and is obviously well educated.

She's happy to be taken in by Annie as she, and her lovely dog Biscuit that she's adopted, have somewhere to sleep and food, but not so keen about the thieving ways she's getting dragged into. Along the way she makes friends with lovely Dorothy, who works in one of the department stores The Forty Elephants regularly rob from, and constantly seems to run into Lillian, a policewoman trying to make her way in a very male dominated police force, who is determined to bring down Diamond Annie and make her mark in the police force, and for policewomen in general.

I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Diamond Annie, she was born into a criminal life and feels she doesn't really have any way to change it, although at times you feel like she may want a more law abiding life, as her heart is often in the right place, although she hides it very well!

Everything does come to a head towards the end, and really it ends the only way it could, but still with a very satisfactory ending. Very enjoyable read.

Based on real-life historical figures in post World War I London, Heather Webb’s latest novel brings to vivid life the complicated web that tied together criminal and police circles in that era, and the unsuspecting people caught in the middle.

Alice Diamond is better known by her street moniker, Diamond Annie. Tall and tough, she’s taken over leadership of the notorious women’s gang Forty Elephants and brought them to new heights, independent of the male Elephant And Castle Mob from which they derived both their origin and name. Alice rules over her girls with an iron fist but makes sure that they all share fairly in the spoils of their heists, granting them a lifestyle far nicer than their hardscrabble upbringings in the London slums.

But she can’t help everyone, not even her best friend and associate Ruth, who refuses to leave an abusive lover. Even after the worst beatings, Ruth insists on making excuses for him, claiming that he loves her womanly softness. Alice, understandably, hates this:

QUOTE
She went nearly blind with rage at Ruth’s obtuseness. It wasn’t Ruth’s femininity the tyrant loved. It was her weakness. Her inability to stand up for herself. He was the variety of man that hated women, feared them and wanted to control them because it gave him someone to hate more than himself. But Alice knew she couldn’t convince Ruth of this. The only thing she could do was encourage her to join the Forties at their future home. Let it be her place of refuge. There, they would have safety and strength in numbers. They could prevent Mike from ever touching Ruth again.
END QUOTE

Alice clearly has ambitions to do more than just rake in the cash for a fleeting good time, but her plans to take care of her girls are not without their obstacles. Prominent amongst these is Inspector Lilian Wyles, one of the first policewomen in English history. Intelligent, courageous, and desperate to prove herself to her bosses, she’s set her sights on nabbing Diamond Annie.

The cat and mouse game between the two women is complicated by the appearance of two others: young Hira Wickham and pretty Dorothy McBride. Anglo-Indian Hira lives in the care of her greedy Uncle Clive. When her parents die while abroad, he threatens to send her to a boarding school that is little better than a workhouse. In a panic, Hira runs away from their West End mansion. With nowhere to run to, she soon finds herself under Alice and the Forty Elephants’ wing.

Dorothy is a shopgirl whose dreams of a future in fashion are too often undercut by those who refuse to believe that she could have a brain inside her head of red curls. Her kind heart and weakness for romance further put her in untenable positions. When her path collides with the three others’, will she be able to make the right choices for not only herself but the people she cares about most?

Queens Of London does an amazing job of bringing the Roaring Twenties in London to life, highlighting not only the gin-soaked glamor and the sisterly solidarity of so many disparate women, but also examining, at least cursorily, deeper questions of social justice. Lilian, especially, has to battle with her conscience as she finds herself suddenly sympathizing at least with Alice’s aims, if not her methods:

QUOTE
Lilian shook her head. What was right was right. What was just… Well, she had always instinctively lived by the principles of fairness and justice. They gave order to the chaos of human nature, brought light when all appeared dark or hopeless. But for the first time, she questioned what justice really meant. She was also beginning to see a sort of twisted symbiotic relationship between criminal and police. The line that divided them was far thinner than she’d ever realized. This truth was uncomfortable, irritating like a kernel of corn stuck in her teeth.
END QUOTE

Feminist and fierce, this novel doesn’t go for easy answers as each woman does the best that she’s able to in order to reshape her world for the better, in the only ways she knows how. I especially appreciated the inclusion of Hira, who has to deal with racism on top of the challenges the older women face. Ms Webb indulges in no whitewashing in this historical fiction, fully describing London’s thriving East End, populated with migrants from the Indian subcontinent. Such a wide-lensed look at the past only adds verisimilitude to her tale of cops and robbers attempting to best one another in the seemingly endless human circle of crime and punishment.

Heather Webb, the Author of Queens of London has written a captivating and intriguing novel. The genres for this book are Historical Fiction, Crime, British Literature, and Fiction. The timeline is set around 1925 in London, after World War One, when women gangs committed crimes to live in a better way. “Diamond Annie” is lead of a women’s gang and is called “Queen of the Forty Elephants”. The well organized women steal from fancy department stores and then have “fences” sell the merchandise. At the same time, Officer Lilian Wyles, is assigned to to capture the leader and women, as well as any orphans she sees. Lilian is not taken seriously in a man’s world and often the other male officers don’t show her the respect she should receive.She is determined to change that. Dorothy is the best saleswoman in a high class department store, and the other women and her male boss have the impression, she is not bright, because of her attractiveness and friendly nature. Dorothy is extremely creative and draws pictures of dresses and accessories, but when she shows them to her Boss and others, they ignore her talents. Hira is a young Indian girl who runs away from an abusive and manipulative Uncle. Hira knows the best of everything, and has been tutored. Unfortunately she now lives on the streets.

I love how Heather Webb vividly describes the setting, plot, and the dramatic and colorful characters . All of the female characters show courage fighting for their goals in a man’s world, and society. There is looting, stealing, rioting, threats, danger, secrets, betrayals,bribery and suspense. I appreciate how Heather Webb brings attention of abuse, discrimination, inequality of class, prejudice, poverty, and entitlement. I loved everything about this well written book and highly recommend this to other readers.

I really enjoyed learning about this little bit of London history and the story of all these amazing women. Based on the true story of Diamond Annie, the leader of an organized gang of thieves- The Forty Elephants. I found myself transported back in time to London in the 1920s. There were such vivid descriptions and I couldn’t almost see and smell what it was like at the time. It got
me thinking a lot about loyalty and family.

The story has three amazing women characters - Alice Diamond, aka Annie Diamond, Hira, a young runaway, whose story reminded me a lot of A Little Princess, and Lillian Wyler, one of the first female detectives of Scotland Yard and orphan finder. I loved seeing all the different connections and interactions between the three and seeing them all watching each other to learn their routines. I couldn’t quite work out who was my favourite and who ‘I should go’ for as the novel progressed. I was pleased to see it was actually based on true characters and loved reading the authors note and googling more about the characters and gangs. The novel keeps up a decent pace the whole way through with a big finish. I ended up being quite happy with how it all played out. My first novel by Webb and definitely not my last.

Another fascinating and intriguing historical fiction by Heather Webb.

Set in London, 1925 - it follows the story of Diamond Alice, leader of an all girls theft ring; Inspector Lillian who's trying to get Alice, 10 year old Hira who's run away from her corrupt uncle after her parents death, and Dorothy a sales girl with big design dreams. All are extremely strong female characters and I enjoyed learning their stories and how their lives entertwined. Very well crafted and entertaining.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

This was a fabulous historical fiction set in 1920s London. It’s based on real characters with a fictional spin. The author does a great job in her notes and through a Q&A section at the end of the book with separating fact and fiction as well as her inspirations for this read. So don’t close the book when the story ends.

Now to our Queens..

Alice Diamond is the head of an all woman crime organization called the Forty Elephants. They specialize in shoplifting. She does worry about her girls who are in bad relationships.

Officer Lillian Wyles is one of the first female detectives in Scotland Yard. She gets no respect from her peers or citizens on the street. She is tasked with controlling the shoplifting and chasing down homeless street kids.

As you can imagine their paths cross in not only the high end department stores but also because of a runaway brown skinned girl named Hira.

Each of these queens have fascinating lives that I enjoyed reading about. The addition of Hira really elevated the story for me. Some of the drama that surrounds the forty elephants really grounded me as to what time period I was reading.

This is a story about two women breaking glass ceilings before that was even a thing and the sacrifices and struggles that each made.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Perhaps because historical fiction is my favorite genre I tend to have higher expectations, particularly since this book is based on a true story, but the novel was not as interesting as I had hoped.

Set in 1920s London, the book focuses four main female characters. One is a the boss of an all-female gang of thieves, one is a young Indian girl who becomes entangled with the crime group, one is a rare female police officer working for the Met, and the other is a female "shopgirl" from whom the gang intends to rob.

The good: I appreciated the diversity of characters and the feminist focus of the story, as well as the author's note at the end explaining the true backstory vs. which parts were her imagination.

The bad: some of the characters were not well developed and seemed to be stereotypical archetypes. The book jumped around a lot due to various POVs and lots of extraneous characters. Lastly, the pace was not as fast nor the plot as exciting as one would anticipate given the premise.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an advanced copy ebook and audiobook in exchange for my honest review.