Queen of Thieves

Marsh’s (Her Father’s Daughter) historical novel tells of the impossible choices people make when facing poverty and trauma. Alice Diamond is quick-witted, proud and hard as a rock. She leads an all-female gang, the Forty Thieves, who shoplift jewelry and clothes and sell them on the black market in post-war London. She meets 20-year-old Nell on the same day Nell learns her lover is cheating on her. Nell is pregnant and she lives with her angry, abusive dad and her nervous, cowed mother. Alice offers Nell a job as a shoplifter, knowing her youthful, innocent looks will prove handy. Initially, Nell finds the idea of easy money and a close-knit thieving squad thrilling. But when she has to give up her newborn son because she doesn’t have a husband or legal income, she feels a fiery anger and vengefulness that wasn’t there before. She vows to knock Alice off her throne as the Queen of Thieves. The two women’s battle to outwit each other makes for an entertaining and diverting read.