Coronation Year (Jennifer Robson)

 

I am a big Jennifer Robson fan. I've read all her books and so I was happy to hear about this one coming out and amazed at the timing! King Charles' coronation was just last Saturday. I started it before his coronation and finished it today and have enjoyed it immensely! I've always been a fan of the royal family. I cut out the newspaper clippings from Charles' and Diana's wedding, watched carefully when Fergie and Andrew married and have continued on with the others. This story isn't so much about the royal family as it is about the regular people and their lives during the pending coronation. Having grown up in a family in the hotel industry, I really felt a connection! I love learning about history through historical fiction. As it says in Coronation Year:

London has changed so much since the coronation of the first Elizabeth. I thought that by telling the story of this one place, the sort of place most people pass by without ever knowing its history, we might also tell the story of London.
- Stella

Goodreads says:

The USA Today bestselling author of The Gown returns with another enthralling and royal-adjacent historical novel—as the lives of three very different residents of London’s historic Blue Lion hotel converge in a potentially explosive climax on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation.

It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned. The people of London are in a mood to celebrate, none more so than the residents of the Blue Lion hotel.

Edie Howard, owner and operator of the floundering Blue Lion, has found the miracle she needs: on Coronation Day, Queen Elizabeth in her gold coach will pass by the hotel’s front door, allowing Edie to charge a fortune for rooms and, barring disaster, save her beloved home from financial ruin. Edie’s luck might just be turning, all thanks to a young queen about her own age.

Stella Donati, a young Italian photographer and Holocaust survivor, has come to live at the Blue Lion while she takes up a coveted position at Picture Weekly magazine. London in celebration mode feels like a different world to her. As she learns the ins and outs of her new profession, Stella discovers a purpose and direction that honor her past and bring hope for her future.

James Geddes, a war hero and gifted artist, has struggled to make his mark in a world that disdains his Indian ancestry. At the Blue Lion, though, he is made to feel welcome and worthy. Yet even as his friendship with Edie deepens, he begins to suspect that something is badly amiss at his new home.

When anonymous threats focused on Coronation Day, the Blue Lion, and even the queen herself disrupt their mood of happy optimism, Edie and her friends must race to uncover the truth, save their home, and expose those who seek to erase the joy and promise of Coronation Year.