About the book: 'She thirsted for everything but the clear stream of her own life, flowing hidden in the grass.' - Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions
On a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society.
But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined.
Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter, Alex, and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful.
Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K (2023) takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world, from the slopes of Courchevel, the terraces of Monaco and the deck of a superyacht in the Indian Ocean. Perpetually overlooked by their masters, Mel and Alex will find their invisibility offers them the opportunity to wield a destructive power of their own. A dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.
About the author: Sarah Thomas was born in Scotland, grew up in Kenya, and lives in London. She spent years travelling the world working as a tutor to the super-rich, and has written and performed for TANK, Art Review, EPOCH, Loewe and others. Queen K is her first novel.
Rating: 3/5
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