In Sarah Raughley’s The Queen’s Spade, Sarah “Sally” Forbes Bonetta (originally Ina) is a Yoruban princess of the Egbado Clan who was orphaned as a child and imprisoned by the Dahomey emperor, then captured by British naval officers, renamed after the HMS Bonetta and Captain Frederick Forbes, and presented as a “gift” to Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria takes young Sally on as her African goddaughter and ward, as a symbol of unity and proof of the British imperial project’s benevolent and civilizing influence in the world. Now 18, Sally hatches a revenge plot to bring her long list of tormentors to justice and spends the majority of the novel enacting it.

On her revenge list are six principal targets: the lecherous journalist Mr. Bellamy; Mr. Bambridge, the royal photographer who destroyed her one remaining heirloom from her life as a princess; Uncle George, better known as Captain George Forbes, brother of Frederick and one of the naval officers who threw her friend Ade overboard and ferried her to England in the first place; Mr. McCoskry, an opportunist who becomes the acting governor of Lagos; Mrs. Phipps, a senior courtier who along with the aforementioned men, inspected Sally like an exotic animal and commanded her to dance for them; and finally, Queen Victoria, her steely godmother, who exercises unfettered dominion over Sally’s life, as she does in all things.

Sally performs her prescribed role as a genteel and tractable lady, assimilating in public and in private, strategizing different ways to ensure her adversaries’ downfalls. She enlists the help of Harriet Phipps, a junior courtier aggrieved by her mother’s unrelenting bullying and Rui, the son of Chinese immigrants and an influential London crime lord. A romantic tension, and eventual forbidden liaison, develops between Sally and Rui as they work together to accomplish both of their interests. As Sally and her co-conspirators maneuver in secret, Queen Victoria begins to suspect Sally’s true intentions and moves to thwart them by arranging her marriage to a much older Lagos businessman. Other foils arise in the forms of the Crown Prince Bertie, whose fickle affections vex Sally but are occasionally useful to her, and Dalton Sass, the vengeful son of her deceased and abusive former schoolmistress. 

The Queen’s Spade is a thrilling work of young adult historical suspense that explores themes of control, revenge, love, autonomy, injustice, respectability, assimilation, and imperialism. It deftly reframes the narrative to give Sarah Ina Forbes Bonetta the chance to reclaim some of the agency that she lost in life. The novel is divided into three parts, with each part introduced by an actual excerpt from the letters of Captain Frederick Forbes, Sarah Ina Forbes Bonetta, and Queen Victoria. It ends with a short bibliography. 

Raughley draws inspiration from records of the real Sarah’s life and historical events surrounding her to fashion an alternate history in which she is the strategic and formidable adolescent Sally, avenging herself and the death of her slain friend Ade. In Raughley’s inventive portrait of a young woman scorned, Sally is the first person narrator of her own story as opposed to a historical footnote in someone else’s. Centering Sally’s perspective is not only fitting to the revenge plot that unfolds, but effective in subverting standard tales set in the Victorian era, thus expanding readers’ perceptions of the time period. As the main character, Sally’s voice rings clearly and distinctly. 

Although it trends younger and is set during a later era of British history, The Queen’s Spade is marketed as a cross between Bridgerton and the YA fantasy romance Belladonna. It does have a strong crossover appeal for both YA and adult audiences. However, the similarly diverse cast of characters, matrimony and romantic element, and frequent features of the monarchy imperfectly parallel Shondaland’s adaptation of Bridgerton. While romance is more central to the plot of Bridgerton and its depictions are more heightened, the romance in The Queen’s Spade is less pronounced and secondary to suspense and thriller elements. The Queen’s Spade differs from Bridgerton in another salient way: it deals head-on with the sociopolitical nuances of an African girl and other people of color navigating English high society during a time of active British imperialism, where the Regency era series, for better or worse, tends to largely eschew them. 

History is woven throughout The Queen’s Spade in a way that doesn’t feel overly didactic or out of sync with the tone of a caper thriller tinged with romance. The fast pace, intrigue, and sense of urgency are each maintained. In this instance, addressing the protagonist and secondary characters’ historical context in a substantive way doesn’t detract from the reader’s ability to engage with or enjoy the story; it adds a layer of depth and specificity that enhances it. Raughley hews to many factual details of Sarah Ina Forbes Bonetta’s life but gives her fictional embodiment’s trajectory a few clever and satisfying twists, particularly at the end.

The book can be read as an intersectional exploration of feminist rage that centers a marginalized voice. As such, it wades into the morally ambiguous or “morally gray” and prompts readers to ponder whether Sally is a heroine or anti-heroine. When viewed in the full scope of the violence, oppression, and complicity of their era, it also simultaneously questions both Sally and her upper class foes’ relations to righteousness. Although they purport to be motivated by altruism and love where Sally is concerned, Queen Victoria, Mr. Bellamy, Mr. Bambridge, Captains Frederick and George Forbes, Mr. McCoskry, and Mrs. Phipps are all culpable of truly grievous acts that terrorize and debase her over time. Sally’s quest for vengeance is riveting, cathartic, and in many ways, defensible. Though her means of achieving her ends are not always pure nor so simple. Along her sometimes bloody path, she’s confronted with the grave magnitude and consequences of her choices.

The Queen’s Spade is thematically comparable to other YA books that highlight feminist fury and may be perfect for fans of Kaylynn Bayron’s Cinderella is Dead, Bethany Baptiste’s The Poisons We Drink, Hayley Dennings’s This Ravenous Fate, and L. L. McKinney’s Escaping Mr. Rochester. 

LOGLINE: In an alternate history inspired by the real life of Sarah Ina Forbes Bonetta, 18-year-old Sarah “Sally” Forbes Bonetta, a West African princess abducted from her homeland, acts the part of a dutiful ward and goddaughter to Queen Victoria while secretly seeking revenge against her high society tormentors.

MOOD: A thought-provoking, fast-paced battle of wills set in the midst of the Victorian royal court that features a wry, fearsomely determined protagonist on a dangerous mission to claim vengeance and her autonomy. 

TITLE: The Queen’s Spade

AUTHOR: Sarah Raughley

GENRE: Young Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Alternative History, Historical Romance

PUB DATE: 14 January 2025

PUBLISHER: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins

LENGTH: 416 pages