I love Julia Golding. There were a couple that I didn’t end up writing about – The Glass Swallow and Ringmaster (Darcie Lock Book 1), but there were others that I devoured and simply had to gush about. Here are four that come to mind:
And now, The Diamond of Drury Lane, which begins with the wonderful lines:
Reader, you are set to embark on an adventure about one hidden treasure, two bare-knuckle boxers, three enemies and four hundred and thirty-eight rioters. It is told by an ignorant and prejudiced author – me.”
Cat Royal – orphan, adventurer, actress
The Diamond of Drury Lane is the first of Cat Royal’s adventures, and it’s delicious.
As a reader, characters are everything to me. If I fall in love with the character, I’m much more likely to fall in love with her/his story.
And Cat is a delightful character – fiercely loyal, trusting, bold, resourceful and enterprising. In The Diamond of Drury Lane, we realise that the first two unfortunately sometimes work against each other. Cat is loyal to Mr Sheridan, but trusts Pedro. She shares Mr Sheridan’s secret with Pedro, only to discover a few pages later that she has reason to doubt his trustworthiness. A wonderful adventure follows, taking us through the murky streets of London, throwing us alternately into the poorest and dirtiest of society and the cream of aristocracy.
The Diamond of Drury Lane is a mixture of all the ingredients that delight me – suspense, adventure and friendship. Julia Golding makes the theatre, Covent Garden and 18th century London come alive.
| Title | The Diamond of Drury Lane |
| Author | Julia Golding |
| Genre | Historical Fiction |
| Rating (out of 5) | 4.5 |
| Age-group | 11+ |
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