This was such a unique and unexpected read. This book is part satire, part royal fever dream, and part cultural commentary. The premise is bold: what if Princess Diana is alive, living in Paris under a cloud of mystery and memory loss? JB Miller runs with this idea in a fast-paced, often hilarious chronicle that blends reality with wild what-ifs.

The writing is witty and sharp, with moments of genuine heart that caught me off guard. The character of Duch is intriguing and the supporting cast adds flavor to this whimsical and slightly chaotic story. I especially enjoyed the satirical take on media obsession and royal politics.

Duch is an imaginative and entertaining ride. If you’re curious about royals, conspiracy theories, and speculative fiction with a humorous twist, this might be a book you will enjoy.

I was one of those Anglophiles who was obsessed with Diana from the very beginning. Her funeral was on my birthday. I still read everything about her I can get my hands on, especially fiction. I think this is my new favorite novel about her.

The book has some funny lines and is rather irreverent, but not in a cruel way. It was such a fun read, It poked gentle fun at the Royals, took a good poke at the media, and then there was the matter of Diana.

I think towards the end, the story got a bit too wild but I still loved it. The characters were strong, the storyline delivered, and the premise was just delightful. If you don't cheer for Fox and Diana, are you truly a fan?!

Thank you NetGalley, and thank you, JB Miller, for the chance to read and review this book. All opinions are mine and freely given.

It took me some time to get in the groove of this book. Erm. novel. It’s always a tricky exercise to write fiction about existing people, and although the premise was interesting, the execution proved tedious.

However, much like a Kafka story, you get most out of the story by its end, and it allows you to reflect on the absurdity of life and our reaction to it. I liked how quirky it was, but somehow the story feels geared toward a more UK crowd, if that makes sense. I know Diana’s cult was global but there are too Englishism for it to really show.

I’d rate this 2.5 and it could’ve been more but frankly, it lost a full star because of the sheer amount of translation mistakes—if you’re going to write in another language have the decency to get it checked by something or preferably someone other than Deepl… (I’m a French native and this was *very frustrating* to read at times).

An intriguing book with an interesting premise. Did Diana fake her death in 1997? On the face of it, its a premise that has nowhere to go. She couldn't have, could she? But...

With a high-wire set-up like this, part of the appeal of this book is seeing how the author gets out of the trap they have set for themselves. Whether they do or not is hard to discuss in a review without spoiling it, but it is safe to say that the book wrong-foots its readers with multiple twists and turns.

I approached the book imagining that it would be a 'Diana in hiding' story, with the identity of the still-living 'People's Princess' gradually revealed. It isn't that book. Diana's possible survival becomes known to other characters very early on - the book is more concerned with examining the impact of that and of how Diana's public persona would work in a world that is very different from when she left it. It isn't so much an exploration of how she might have survived, and more a discussion of where she might fit with TikTok, viral campaigns and online activism.

We do get quite a bit of characterisation of Charles, Camilla, Harry and William - the latter is implausibly now an actor in EastEnders. The novel never fully addressed why the House of Windsor would have afforded any credence to the rumours of Diana's survival.

Chapter-less, the book is an easy read and flows to a surprising conclusion. It's likely to be one of the most 'out there' novels of the year, but one which you need to read to the end of.

This was a miss for me . . . just a bit too wacky and far fetched. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

3.5⭐️

Duch tells the story of a woman who is pulled from a Parisian river, remembering nothing except that he name is Diana. Given her voice, her look, the location and the very significant date, people begin to suspect they know exactly who Diana is...

This was a fun read without getting too silly, and I enjoyed the semi-fictionalised version of the royal family - close enough to reality to be even funnier.

I found this to be a quick read, especially as I didn't know where it was heading and for the most part I enjoyed it. However, I can pinpoint a particular moment when it fell apart for me (no spoilers but I think you'll recognise the gratuitous-ness).

Recommended if you're looking for a comedy to keep you guessing and if you love the royals... or love poking fun at them!

Thanks, NetGalley and Riverdale Avenue books for the ARC!

I have always been really intrigued by the royals, especially Diana, so I had to read this. This is a satirical take on the conspiracy theories about Diana. The writing was really good and I found the book to be interesting. I definitely think you have to be a fan of the royals or at least be interested in them to like this book.

A sweeping historical novel that transports readers to a world of intrigue, ambition, and betrayal. Miller’s attention to detail and intricate storytelling make Duch an immersive experience, bringing history to life in a way that feels both epic and deeply personal.

I guess this is supposed to be a ripoff of all those stories about people pretending to be Anastasia Romanov after the fall of the tsar? The problems that there's nothing new here: no new thoughts, no new situations, nothing that we haven't seen before.

The premise of this novel is sensational: Princess Diana is still alive and has just been pulled out of the River Seine. Is she really Diana? How will everyone, including the Royal Family, react? The woman thought to be Princess Diana doesn't look exactly like the princess, but it has been nearly thirty years since she was last seen. But her actions and British accent seem consistent. Finally, the woman tells people who she really is.

I loved the first half of the book, but the second half of the book gets weird and off track. A romance between the main character and another character introduced late seemed gratuitous and unnecessary. Allusions to a little known movie were just weird and didn't make sense. At the end, the author did suggest in a roundabout way how this woman could indeed be Princess Diana, but overall, the whole second half of the book just fell flat.

I wanted to like this book, but the author dropped the ball after a remarkable beginning and premise.

If you are interested in the Royal family, I think you will find this book very entertaining. I have moderate interest in them and though I still enjoyed the book, I don't think I am the target audience of this title.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What an interesting premise for a book! I was very intrigued for the first half, but found myself losing interest as the story went on. In the end I did not find enough change or evolution in the characters for my satisfaction.

I liked the premise of the idea and while I don't follow the royals or feel any connection with the Princess Diana story (any more than anyone else) I still found myself wishing for a certain outcome and rooting for the underdog, so to speak. The portrayal of the royal family was interesting although many of the characters seemed reduced to caricatures of themselves, almost uncomfortably so for me since these are real people still living. I'm always intrigued when authors write fiction about real people who are still living.

I do think the story put a point on illustrating how the seed of an idea can take off in a crowd, and online, and grow into something much bigger, and perhaps unhinged.

Thanks you to Riverdale Avenue Books and Net Galley for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Riverdale Avenue Books and NetGalley for a copy of “ Duch “ for an honest review .

I thought this was an entertaining , enjoyable , and humorous read.
Someone looking like , and claiming to be Diana is rescued after jumping in the Seine , but could it really be Princess Diana after all these years , and how will the Royal family and the public react to such news ?!
This is the sort of book where you have to suspend your belief, and just go with the flow.
Well worth a read

First things first: I love reading about the British Royal Family - biographies, tabloids, blog posts, etc. So I was very much looking forward to reading “Duch” for a bit of lighthearted entertainment (thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review).

Sadly, I was immediately annoyed by the wrong/incorrect information and details. It remains unclear whether this was done on purpose, was simply the author’s mistake, or was due to very poor editing/absence of any fact-checking. After all, this is a novel about the Royal Family, not a fictitious family of royals, even though the heroine Diana Inconnue might be entirely fictional.

A few examples:
• Reference to Harry and Meghan as the Duke and Duchess of Wessex (!) not Sussex (noted at least once)
• Reference to two Jack Russell dogs owned by the King and Queen. The book was to be published at the end of February 2025, and it was widely publicised that one of the King and Queen’s dogs died in 2024
• Last but not least, The Telegraph (British newspaper) would never spell the word “travelling” with one ‘l’

There were other mistakes, but I was not paid to edit the book!

And what about the story itself? Intriguing, entertaining, somewhat silly, satirical - it all started really well, and I was enjoying the book. Sadly, it all disintegrated rather quickly, as if the author lost the will to continue entertaining us and simply dragged on with the novel. The quality of the story really suffered towards the end.

I didn’t perceive any hidden deeper meaning about the problems of public personas, issues with idealised images, and our expectations of famous people. I mean, it was all on the surface without deeper analysis or amazing insights. Similarly, I do not feel the author really had any instructive stories about our usage of social media and how dangerous even a simple tweet could be, coming from a famous person with a huge following. It has all been said many times before.

And then it all ended on a rather blah note.

All in all, perhaps an entertaining enough story, but one I would not recommend.

For those of us around when 'Shy Di' first hit the news, the image of the woman on the front cover was instantly recognisable.
With there having been so many conspiracy theories around over the years, the idea that Diana was alive in a French hospital was after a jump from a bridge into the Seine made a great opening.
Lots of clever ideas about the Royal Family (already covered differently by Sue Townsend in 'The Queen and I') which often had me laughing out loud.
There was one aspect of the story that I felt was far too predictable and unnecessary, but the rest of it was great.

This was a very interesting and insightful take into modern day society, the royal family, social media presence and the rebirth of an icon.

On the anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in Paris, a woman who will be called Duch, shouts I am Diana and jump into the Seine river. What follows is the fictionalized events of a timeless icon being re-launched into modern society.

I found the first 3/4 of this book engaging, though-provoking and charming with its quick witticism and cheeky nods at certain “personalities” let’s say.

However, it kind of lost it for me in the last 1/4 - the ending felt rushed, and didn’t bind together the flowing narrative arc I had been receiving from it thus far (Or perhaps it’s that I didn’t receive the ending I hoped for).

Overall, an interesting and pop culty fun novel worth the read

I adored this book! As a huge Diana fan anyway, I thought the plot and premise was superb. A great cast of characters and overlapping narratives over a memorable 3 week summer in Paris. I would love JB Miller to take on other historical and cultural events like JFK or Titanic.

Entertaining but halting. Written in little spurts which I didn’t really like because it’s hard to get into a groove. More like “the Royals” than “the crown”. It's definitely a fun read but gets a little bogged down in too many points of view.

When I read the description of Duch, I knew this had to be the first book I try on NetGalley. The subject matter really sounded interesting to me - Princess Diana, the people’s princess so suddenly taken from the world, is back? After being fished out from the river Seine? Insane, and I love it.

The story unfolds as this mystery woman named Diana/Duch is admitted into a Paris hospital for recovery, and the big question on everyone's lips is “is it really her?”.

In the meantime we are treated to the insightful chapters which detail the personal lives of members of the royal family, as Duch (whoever she is?), accrues an accidental cult following across the globe.

Although I wish that the ending of this book continued that little bit longer. I feel like this was a fantastic example of a parody done correctly, and this was executed in a way which wasn’t disrespectful at all but more…playful. Especially regarding the humorous embellishments (*cough* Mr Beasley *cough*), added to the well known figures of the Royal Family.

It also does pose the question, would this be an accurate reinvigoration of such a beloved public figure, if this scenario were to play out? And to be honest, in this day and age, I don’t think it’s far off!

A fabulous read, and I am keen to look into other books by this Author!

On the 28th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, a silver haired woman throws herself into the Seine in Paris. She is rescued saying “I am Diana” and taken to the hospital. The woman could be an older Diana but she has no memory of her life before jumping into the water. When the press picks it up, many people who loved the Princess gather around the hospital singing and chanting to her believing that she never died but has been hiding in Paris.

Back in the UK, King Charles doesn’t know what to make of this spectacle but he’s also fixated on his duties and his own little problems and quirks. The American press tries to interview her but only seems to get the same answer to their questions: “I don’t know.”

The story goes back and forth from Diana to members of the British royal family and their courtiers. There is lots of humor here as the story pokes fun at the British royals but not in a mean way. I think one would need to be a long-time follower of Princess Diana as I was from the first day she “came on the scene” to fully comprehend this story. I, too, was devastated at her death and will remember her forever. Having lived in Paris for many years, I was pleased at all of the French language used in the book that gave me the chance to revisit that beautiful language. A quirky and sometimes whacky book that will keep readers laughing. Enjoy!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.