Steven's Updates

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:00:57 -0700

Steven wants to read 'Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History'

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:01:43 -0700

Steven wants to read Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History by Vali Nasr

Steven wants to read 'Endgame: The Betrayal And Fall Of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II'

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:01:33 -0700

Steven wants to read Endgame: The Betrayal And Fall Of Srebrenica, Europe's Worst Massacre Since World War II by David Rohde

Steven started reading 'Movie Freak: My Life Watching Movies'

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:00:51 -0700

Steven started reading Movie Freak: My Life Watching Movies by Owen Gleiberman

Steven is currently reading 'Cinema Speculation'

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:00:27 -0700

Steven is currently reading Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino

Steven is on page 222 of 352 of Atmosphere

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 19:17:42 -0700

Steven is on page 222 of 352 of Atmosphere.

Steven is currently reading 'Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History'

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:22:23 -0700

Steven is currently reading Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History by Vali Nasr

Steven wants to read 'The Nomadic Soul: A Seeker's Guide to Finding a Sense of Self and Belonging in the Modern World'

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:21:52 -0700

Steven wants to read The Nomadic Soul: A Seeker's Guide to Finding a Sense of Self and Belonging in the Modern World by Seline Shenoy

Steven is now following Bridget

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:41:30 -0700

Steven is now following Bridget

Steven added 'The Stolen Queen'

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 16:02:48 -0700

Steven gave 5 stars to The Stolen Queen (Hardcover) by Fiona Davis
The Stolen Queen is one of those rare novels that you can read and enjoy fully, whether it is in one sitting, or in multiple sittings. Fiona Davis weaves a masterful tale of Egyptian pharaohs and high fashion from history. It will be quite some time that I will find a unique book like this.

1936. Charlotte Cross is a newbie Egyptologist. She is in Egypt to help with digs and translation of ancient Egyptian documents. She finds a tomb that is what her and her colleagues think is the final resting place of an Egyptian queen. She also finds a necklace that may be the queen's. 1978. Charlotte is a curator of the MOMA's Egyptian collection. She has come far from Egypt when she was a young adult. Annie Jenkins is an 18 year old who also works at the MOMA as an assistant to a former fashion insider. There is a statue of the queen in the Egyptian collection. Both are enamored of the statue. There is a Gala, and during the Gala, someone swipes the statue. And so starts a story that bounces from the past to the present, and the filling in the gaps of the story through this way of storytelling.

Fiona Davis writes, it seems, flawlessly and with description so vivid, you can see yourself in The Valley of Kings, Cairo, and The Museum of Modern Art. Her characters are flawed, though. And throughout the novel, the two main characters, Charlotte and Annie, find the strength of character to be more than what they were at the beginning of the novel. I really like Charlotte. She is an ideal, day dreaming Egyptologist, and she is hopeful in finding the supposed tomb of the Egyptian queen. Annie is no slouch either. She has this inner strength and aptitude to reading people, that she seems like a mind reader. Both characters are very compassionate and empathetic. The other characters fill in the blanks as well, and Davis really knows how to tell a story of historical fiction.

I really had a hard time finishing the novel. Not because of the length of the book, but because I loved the story so much. And the characters were compelling and real to life. I want to say that this book made me feel nostalgic of thinking of my youth, and exploration and traveling was my forte. The Stolen Queen will stay with me for a long time, and I plan on reading it again in the future. I hope that you, reader, will enjoy this novel as much as I did.