The Queens of London

This is the latest of Heather Webb's 10 historical novels, this one centered on England's first all-female gang of thieves. The queen of the gang, Alice Diamond or, as she's known on the streets, Diamond Annie, has her own perspectives on justice and loyalty and isn't afraid to mete out punishment to anyone who crosses the line, male or female. The gang is called the Forty Elephants and they focus on shoplifting from high-end clothing stores, selling on to their fences, and dividing the money equally. With a different point of view is DC Lilian Wyles, one of the first women officers at the Met. She is trying to break free of the restrictive "women's work" --catching orphans--and is also trying to protect her women colleagues' standing in the police by being the best detective she can be. Catching the head of the Forty Elephants would certainly go some way towards convincing the higher ups that women are a valuable addition to the force.

Into the mix comes Hira, a young girl whose East Indian mother and English father have just died of cholera in India. Hira has been living with a wealthy but negligent uncle in Mayfair and she finds out that he plans to send her to a miserable boarding school for poor and delinquent girls in the north of England. She runs away into the seedier districts of London with absolutely no idea of how to survive. Befriended by a small scruffy dog, she is living in an empty flour barrel in an alley, trying to avoid the gangs of boys and the police, who would return her to her uncle. Alice finds her and uncharacteristically takes pity on the girl; she brings Hira home but warns her to stay out of sight of the abusive father of the family. She also introduces Hira to the Forty Elephants as a messenger and lookout, but Hira hates the thieving and violence she witnesses. On one of their jobs, Hira meets Dorothy, a kind sales woman at one of the department stores who offers the obviously hungry child her lunch. When Ruth, Alice's closest friend in the gang, is killed by her abusive boyfriend, Alice decides she must do more to protect her crew and starts scheming to buy a building that can be a safe house for all of them. But that's going to take more money than their usual shoplifting hauls provide. 

Booklist says of this book, "With engaging characters and strong women protagonists, Webb's page-turning historical work speaks to the challenges that women faced in the 1920s and the fortitude they needed in order to succeed in society led by men." Historical Novel Society also praises the book. "Queens of London is a whirlwind adventure through the streets of the Elephant and Castle neighborhood in early 20th-century London...And after only the first few pages you’ll be reading as much because you care about the characters as you will for the plot."

The author kindly provides notes and research sources so you can find out who and what events are based on actual persons/events and who/what is  fictional. I have to admit that for a significant part of the book, my sympathies were with the criminal gang.