What a fantastic book, I thoroughly enjoyed every page and it was such an eye opening, enchanting story! Thank you so much to the team at @allisonandbusby and of course @dennysbryce for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book early!

The story follows Aine, a yoruba princess who's family is killed when she is five and she was captured by a family nemesis, King Gezo. She is then kidnapped from her home and escapes her enslavement when she is 'gifted' to Queen Victoria and consequently raised in her court in England under her new name, Sarah Forbes Bennett.

Aine/Sarah is such an amazing character, she is such a fiercely strong willed woman, who's intelligence and Resilience is admirable. She endured so much suffering at such a young age and although she really made a life for herself with the opportunities presented to her she still had to endure the ridicule of people at times for being different. Her relationship with Alice was truly beautiful to read as she had lost so many people in her life.

I loved learning about all the history as well as my partner is Nigerian but is Igbo. I can't imagine how it must have been for her to go through what she went through at such a young age, and to then be able to reconnect with her roots and have the opportunity to be a wife and a mother is truly admirable.

A truly beautifully written story, made even more special by the fact it is based on a true story.

The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce. Sarah Forbes Bonetta was a real life African princess who ends up as Queen Victoria’s god daughter. This was well written and very interesting but I feel like it had a big sag in the middle when it came to holding my interest. She was a bit of a brat when she went back to Africa but I really think Denny was trying to do something with character growth but it didn’t quite reach me. My take away from this is stop killing people.

he Other Princess is the story of Aina, an Egbado princess saved from a brutal death at the hands of a rival African tribe or a life of enslavement, and brought to England as a ‘gift’ to Queen Victoria, becoming the Queen’s goddaughter. Renamed Sarah Forbes Bonetta, she is taught English and educated with a view to becoming a Christian missionary. Her fear of being returned to Africa and her eagerness to remain close to the royal household means she is forced to conform to expectations of how she should behave. This often involves her taming her independent spirit and suppressing her cultural identity. One gets the sense of her being a kind of social experiment; the turning of a ‘savage’ into an acceptable member of English society. And one, moreover, who will be expected to engage in reinforcing British colonialism in Africa and converting its people to Christianity.

Told in the first person, Sarah comes across as resilient, brave and intelligent. She quickly masters English and becomes a gifted pianist. There’s a nice scene in which she surprises Queen Victoria with her musical skill. Sarah’s life becomes one of relative privilege, for instance she forms a close friendship with Princess Alice, one of Queen Victoria’s daughters. And, as any young girl might, she enjoys the fancy clothes and parties that come with life close to the royal household. But this privilege comes at the price of inability to make her own life choices. This is starkly demonstrated towards the end of the book when Sarah is forced by the Queen, overwhelmed with grief at the death of Prince Albert, to make a difficult decision between pursuing her heart or being consigned to a life of penury. If I have one criticism of the book, it’s that the pacing seemed slightly off with the final years of Sarah’s life – which were actually quite eventful – covered relatively quickly.

The Other Princess is a fascinating, eye-opening story of survival but one tinged with sadness.

Aina was the seventh child born to the queen and king of Egbado, from the town of Okeadon, they were part of the Yoruba tribe and lived in West Africa. The camp was guarded by the king’s soldiers night and day they feared being attacked by slave traders and the Dahomey people and who were fierce warriors. When Aina was five they attacked, her entire family was killed and she became a slave to king Gezo and her father's rival. Aina had the markings on her face and they knew she was a princess of Egbado, and two years later she’s rescued by Commander Forbes and he takes her back to England and 'gift's' her to Queen Victoria.

Aina name was changed to Sarah Forbes Bonetta, while at sea, Sarah learnt English and became good friends with a cabin boy called William. Once she’s in England, Sarah stays with host families, her majesty pays for her clothes, education, she becomes her guardian, later her godmother and Sarah was good friends with princess Alice and they got up to all sorts of mischief together.

Sarah was very smart, she did well academically, and she studied arithmetic, geography, and played the piano, checkers and backgammon. The things Sarah struggled with were the cold weather in England, constantly losing people she’s close to and she became reluctant to make friends and she’s scared of returning to West Africa. Queen Victoria had complete control over her life, had the final say and at times I found this confronting.

I received a copy of The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce from Allison & Busby and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Using real facts Ms. Bryce shares the remarkable life of a young girl, who witnesses the brutal deaths of her entire family, was a slave for two years and how she traveled to England and became the goddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Despite all the tragedy, setbacks and trials she experienced, Sarah was resilient, brave, funny, smart, proud of being a princess of Egbado and the special markings she had on her face and she went onto be a wife and mother and her eldest daughters hero. A women who we should all admire and she’s the perfect role model for younger women and especially those of colour.

This well written and researched novel gives the reader an enlightening look into what it was like to live during the time of Queen Victoria’s reign, from the point of view of a young African girl, who admired Jane Austen, Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale and I loved reading about her relationship with princess Alice and how much she enjoyed riding in the pony cart. Five big stars from me, I will never forget this powerful and thought provoking narrative about Aina princess of Egbado and a must read.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction novel based on fact and the research is clearly well done - I was engrossed in Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s story. Aina was the only surviving child of the King of Egbado, part of the Yoruba tribe in West Africa. Kept a prisoner for two years she is ‘given’ to Queen Victoria as a gift. Commander Frederick Forbes changes her name whilst sailing back to the UK and Sarah learns to speak English. Back in England Sarah lives with the Forbes family and learns to dress and behave like a wealthy English lady.

Briefly, Sarah was soon summoned to meet Queen Victoria and her family and she became good friends with Princess Alice. The Queen paid for all of Sarah’s expenses as her guardian, and later her godmother, but she never lived with the royal family, just visited. A smart girl, she was gifted in languages and music and was well educated, and soon took to the ways of the British aristocracy.

Sarah was an amazing child and later woman who despite surviving an horrendous early childhood seemed to take to her new life relatively easily. In fact she seemed to relish it and really wanted to live at the palace as a member of the royal family. However, despite caring for Sarah Queen Victoria did still rule over her life and Sarah certainly didn’t get her own way. I don’t want to say too much more as it’s a story for you to read yourself without spoilers. A fascinating woman, a strong and resilient woman, a woman ahead of her times, I hope she was happy! Fascinating.

A well plotted and well researched story that made me learn something new as I never hear about Aina.
A woman who had to learn to live at Queen Victoria's court and in an environment very far from her African upbringing.
I rooted for her and want to learn more
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A well crafted narrative of the life and times of Aina or Sarah Forbes, ward of Queen Victoria. Hers was a tragic life lightened by an unlikely preferment and much prosperity. After losing her family and being enslaved, she was rescued from death by a British Naval officer who arranged for her to be gifted to Victoria. Her life became one of privilege and proved highly talented, but she was also controlled and lost all choice in her destiny. After an arranged marriage where she grew to love her husband she died prematurely if TB. The book narrates this with sympathy, but also realism, giving a warts’n’all portrayal of Sarah. This gives a lovely insight into court life of Victoria and introduces some prominent worthies, Florence nightingale and Mary Seacole included. This makes this an engaging read.

Aina is an African princess, "gifted" to Queen Victoria after witnessing the slaughter of her family and people. Renamed Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the story follows her life and how she changed as the goddaughter of the British Queen.

A fabulous piece of historical fiction, the book felt well researched. I loved Sarah's relationship with Princess Alice, their exploits were amusing inclusions in what was quite an emotive story. I did find that some elements of the story were rushed through however, but still a very entertaining novel.

A fabulous work of historical fiction, which I enjoyed and would highly recommend, and the characters were well drawn. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

Let me admit I was reluctant to start this book with the misery that might be waiting for us readers. You know, the cruelty of the humankind, but I am so glad I did: what an impressive story!

I loved seeing young Aina, later known as Sarah, grow up with everything that she was and more... with her fear, mistrust, and anger. How she was inspired by Jane Austen as a six or seven year old, telling herself to speak up. And the reluctance to have faith and make new friends, in that regard I really appreciated the scene with the elderly lady in Brighton. She was indeed rather rude to Sarah, but within minutes the young princess understood her pain.

And pain there is in this book, how could there not be? It made me angry, it made me sad: the injustice of it all, the power that people have over others, the poorly made decisions no matter those directly involved.

There are definitely similarities to the current state of the world. Sadly.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

What an interesting and unique concept. I cannot wait to share this one with readers! Watch this space for a full review and thoughts.