Thanks to RB Media & Sourcebooks for this review audio.

I'm a sucker for historical fiction. This book uses 2 real people-Alice Diamond & Lilian Wyles & 2 fictional Hira & Dorothy--to tell a story about the Forty Elephants Gang.

Alice Diamond is the Queen of the gang & Lilian is one of the first female Scotland Yard detectives. Hira is a young upper class girl who's run away from home that Alice takes under her wing & Dorothy is a shop girl working in the Dept store the gang robs.

These 4 stories intercept in 1920's London.

The story was fun & the narrator did a great job.
I'd recommend this.

An elightening read , a loo into the world of the first female crime gang and female cops post war , the streets of london are being ran by these true to life females , this story was about them , good storyline , I highly recommend reading the authors note afterward to get more insight into these characters .

Heather Webb has hit a homerun with her latest book Queens of London! I adored the characters and story behind this book. An incredible historical fiction set in 1920s London. The story is about strong women and also about their vulnerabilities - the story is based on a real all-girl gang called The Forty Elephants.

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.

If you are a fan of historical fiction with strong female characters, then you should check this one out!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book was amazing and will be a favorite for years and years. Queens of London is historical fiction set in 1920s London. It's the story about 4 badass women. Each character was fantastic and strong, yet venerable. This is a must read.

This was a great story of a part of history I’m unfamiliar with. It is about a gang of female thieves in London, let by Diamond Annie. Very intriguing book!

As someone who has anxiety attacks at the thought of breaking the rules (let alone the law), this book made me extremely uncomfortable, but in the way that I got to watch it unfold from the warmth and safety of my life.

Upon learning about the Forty Elephants, I was shocked that I had never heard of them. I’m a huge fan of history and the UK, and an all-female crime syndicate is so inherently cinematic, I would have expected dozens of books about them. Instead, this was a new historical fiction for me, which I loved.

I am not someone who has to love the characters in a book, and I don’t dislike Alice, but I can’t love her either (I do love Hira and Dorothy). Webb captured her complexity so well that she was truly complicated— a woman in a man’s world, a victim of abuse who protected other women from the same, a woman who understood what it meant to be poor, but also a violent woman unwilling to be vulnerable in any way.

Queens of London tells the dark and glamorous tale of Britains first all female gang, The Forty Elephants. Alice Diamond is the most notorious leader of the Forty Elephants and expects complete loyalty from her girls. Lillian Wyles is of Londons first female detectives and she’s determined to catch Alice and end the reign of the Forties. The two women are drawn together by Hira, a young girl runaway who needs their help.

Queens of London is a historical crimes novel. It was full of fast paced action. The Forty Elephants and characters are drawn from real life. The story is told from the perspective of the three main characters; Alice, Lillian, and Hira. Hira is a smart girl who uses her wits to survive on the streets of London. Alice and Lilian are real life characters. They are both strong and fierce and their characters were fully fleshed out.

I switched between the physical and audiobook. I enjoyed the narration by Amy Scanlon. She portrayed each character in a unique way making it easy to follow the different points of view.

This is my first novel by Heather Webb and I will definitely be reading more of her books! Queens of London is a great pick for fans of historical fiction!

I loved the characters in this book! We get 4 very different perspectives of life in London, Diamond Alice is a criminal but I still enjoyed her perspective. Dorothy works at a retail store and I felt for her, but loved her growth. There is a detectives perspective too and Hira, a small girl that has no family! I highly recommend this read for fans of historical fiction and those who have loved Heather Webb's previous books!

fun, adventurous story based on some true people and events. I love this era and historical fiction is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. This story focuses on Alice, the leader of the 40 Elephants gang, Hera, a runaway, Lillian, a female police officer, and Dorothy, a woman who works in a department store. All four of their lives intermingle in this tale. I think this is a very good story with a good narrator.

Thank you for the ALC for my honest review.

Heather Webb’s Queens of London was a pleasant surprise - she managed to create sympathetic characters on multiple sides of a criminal enterprise. Based on a real crime syndicate and a groundbreaking female police detective, Webb brought post WWI London to life with complex characters and a lively plot. The original character created by Webb echoes Oliver Twist in all the best ways. Even her secondary characters were memorable. Somehow, Webb had me rooting for all the characters to “win” even though I knew that wasn’t possible. Queens of London is a great character driven novel that had a page turning plot.

There have been several books that include this kind of female crime. This was very enjoyable to read coming from the crime boss’s perspective and how she dealt with her people and the detectives. This perfect for historical fiction readers.

Thank you RB media for my gifted ALC

A historical fiction of a different kind, Queens of London was a blast! Gritty, high stakes, feminist, full of action and drama, but also heartwarming with the found family vibes and unlikely friendships.

Having watched Peaky Blinders, I thought it was so fun to hear familiar names, places, and events. I LOVE the idea of an all women gang - a perspective we don't see often enough. Can we start a petition to make this a TV show or movie??

The audiobook is PHENOMENAL 🎉 I have print and audio, and I was rotating between the two. And both were good, but I found myself completely immersed in the audio. Amy Scanlon is outstanding!!! Her range and ability to portray this large cast - including a child - is no small feat. Brilliant!

Hira is a young girl living with her uncle in London. Her parents have passed away and he is threatening to send her to an orphanage. Hira runs away and ends up on the streets. She finds a wonderful dog that she names Biscuit. But she also finds Alice. Alice, the queen of the streets and leader of a crime syndicate, takes Hira in and trains her. But Hira knows she can’t keep this lifestyle up.

Wow! What a great read! So different and unique! I love a story that teaches me a thing or two! I had no idea about a gang of women in London, the first female crime syndicate. Not only that. this story also covers female detectives during this time period.

This is a well researched and absolutely captivating tale. I was hooked in the very first chapter. I love all the layers, time period and characters! Do not miss this one!

The narrator, Amy Scanlon, is extremely talented and did the child’s voice perfectly. That is a big turnoff for me. But this narrator nailed it!

Need a fantastic, engrossing tale…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Wonderful read! This historical fiction is centered on an all woman crime gang in 1920's London, who were known as the Forty Elephants and were led by Alice Diamond. Additionally, Webb's novel highlights the career of Lilian Wyles the first female detective at Scotland Yard. The stories were interwoven very well and was a completely absorbing story about sisterhood set in a time of burgeoning female empowerment, I loved this book!

Queens of London is a totally binge-able story about the real-life “Diamond Annie,” the elected queen of an all-girl gang in the 1920s. It also includes the real-life Lilian Wyles, one of the very first female detectives of Scotland Yard. While the story itself is fiction, this is one of my favorite genres of historical fiction. I love it when authors learn about real figures like this and weave a delicious storyline that makes them truly real and relatable characters.

I definitely recommend this one for my female empowerment friends who love a little history and fiction thrown into a mixing bowl and served up as an entertaining novel. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a few sad aspects of the storyline that will pull at your heartstrings, but overall I definitely recommend this one for historical fiction lovers.

A fascinating look into a women’s gang in London in the 1920s. I loved getting to see Diamond Annie’s tough side as she ran her gang ruthlessly but also had a softer side for Hira and her sweet pup, Biscuit. It was also interesting to see how female detectives were treated at this time. Heather Webb does a fantastic job fleshing out the characters, describing the world they all live in, and bringing them all together for a thrilling ending. Highly recommended for fans of strong women and historical fiction.

This novel, set in 1925 London, intertwines the stories of 4 very different female characters, two of whom are based on real historical figures. Each character's storyline was equally engaging and well-developed. The book touches on various themes, including justice, belonging, self-worth, and women's rights. This was my second time reading a book by this author, and she is quickly becoming a must-read author for me. I really enjoy her writing style. Her descriptions are concise, not excessively wordy. Unfortunately, I didn't love the way the narrator voiced the characters, but it was still a great listen.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me early access to the ARC audiobook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Feminism in London in the 1920s. This book gives an excellent look into the lives of multiple different women, in different classes, and of different ethnicity to follow their lives and how their stories come together. Cops and robbers, the women's way in the 20's.

I really enjoyed Queens of London. It intertwined the lives of many different women seamlessly throughout the entire book with ease. Often when different story lines mesh in and out of each other it becomes messy and confusing. I think the author Heather Webb did an excellent job of writing the book in a way that was quite detailed, but interesting and easy to follow.

I really enjoyed the narration of this book. There were several different types of British accents that needed to be done throughout this book, so the narration would be complex and difficult, and I think the narration was on point. I am sure many are aware, but in case you are not, depending on where you are from in the city, class, and how you were raised will say a lot about your accent. I cannot pick out the idiosyncrasies between each but when you're steeped in it, you know. However, I am not English, so I can't say if her accents for each are exact, but I thought it was impeccably done.

The last thing I want to mention is the author's note at the end of the book. I really appreciated that she mentioned what was fact, and what was fiction. That helps me so much. So kudos to her for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for this advanced copy of Heather Webb's Queen of London audiobook.

This book was just what I was looking for. I read a lot of historical fiction but so many focus on WWII and I was looking for something different. Queens of London focuses on the 1920's in London. It is the story of Diamond Annie and how she ran the Forty Elephants gang. She wanted more for herself and for her "girls" but she wanted fast money. She did not see a way to survive with a regular job and didn't want that life. An orphaned child, Hera, makes her way into Diamond Annie's life and it seems she might change but in the end, her life and history keep her on the same path. Hera was a great character and I loved reading her story.

The storytelling and the character development were wonderful and I highly recommend this book!

3.5 stars. This book is about Alice Diamond - a real, female gangster from London. I love learning about her but this book was very similar to Queen of Thieves. The storyline felt too reminiscent which was a bit of a bummer. I think this was set a little earlier than the other book. I appreciate the author's note at the end which mentions what was based on truth and what was fictionalized. Overall fun listen, I just wish it were a little more different than Queen of Thieves.