Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson
Genre: Historical fiction, Fact with fiction
Read: 12th June 2023
Published: 4th April 2023
★★★★★ 5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
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 queen she is unlikely ever to meet.
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.
MY THOUGHTS:
At a time of celebration, someone is determined to destroy lives...
As an avid royalist, I simply devour any fiction surrounding the Royal Family. From Princess Charlotte from regency times to Queen Victoria to our very own Queen Elizabeth, merely a glimpse into these lives through the eyes of fiction creates a stunning backdrop to any story no matter the era. CORONATION YEAR provides just that and a little bit more. There is enough history woven into the fabric of the tale to keep it interesting as the main story takes centre stage throughout, shining in the light of the upcoming Coronation. Throughout the story there lurks the shadow of a nation still overcoming the darkness of the second world war...and something else.
The story begins on the 1st January 1953 with Edie Howard, owner of the Blue Lion Hotel, awaking to a new year and new promises of what's to come...thus being the Coronation Year of the new Queen. Preparations are underway for the momentous in just five months' time as she busies to ensure the Blue Lion will surely shine on the day with its position along the procession route of Her Majesty.
Since inheriting the hotel from her parents upon their deaths at the height of the Blitz (not by a bomb but an ambulance, rather), Edie has struggled to dig it out of the hole her father had about buried it in. She is determined to make it a success again and not let it slip through her fingers as for over four hundred years there has always been a Howard running the Blue Lion, since her ancestor James Howard built it in the 16th century. Though she struggles to keep it afloat what with the death duties, the cost of repairs and the basic running of the establishment not to mention the wages for her staff, Edie often wonders if she is at all up to the task. After all, she does seem to be running the hotel at a loss. It doesn't help, of course, that she heavily discounts several of her long term boarders, two of whom are the Honourable Crane sisters who have been in situ since 1927 awaiting the outcome of some legality that saw them disinherited after their father's death. And then there is the somewhat eccentric Professor Thurloe who presents Edie with a list of complaints that he insists on embellishing even further in person, should there be any misunderstanding.
In recent times, she has had numerous offers from an interested party who doesn't appear to be giving up despite her protestations that she will not sell the Blue Lion. This hotel is in her blood. She has grown up here. She was born solely to be its heir after the deaths of her older brothers in the Great War forty years before and she herself is just six year years older than their new Queen. The Coronation does promise to bring in even more custom for the momentous occasion, an event for which Edie can charge a premium for her rooms overlooking the procession route. Of course, two of those rooms are currently occupied by the Honourable Misses Crane and she must first navigate the minefield that they will surely lay at her feet when she requests that they move temporarily across the corridor so that she can charge a premium for those that will be happy to pay for the Coronation. But that is just one of the many things that Edie has on her ever growing list of things to do before she may well combust from frustration...or exhaustion.
We meet Stella Donati, a Holocaust survivor in Rome who sees an advertisement for a photographer for Publisher Weekly in London, never imagining for one moment that she would be successful. When she is, she immediately writes her friend Edie asking for affordable establishments in which she could board but Edie, ever the friend and despite her struggling business, offers her a room at the Blue Lion for a song. She learns her art and gains confidence under the guiding hand of her boss Kaz and her mentor Win. Over time we learn her family's backstory and the sadness she carries and horrors of the Holocaust. Her new life in London sees her develop new friendships and create bonds with those who share a kinship with her story.
Then there is Jamie Geddes, a Scottish artist with Indian ancestry. Commissioned to create a unique painting of the Queen's procession on Coronation Day, he finds himself taking a room at the Blue Lion with the perfect vantage point he needs of the procession route. A man battling his own demons left over from the war, Jamie soon begins a friendship with Edie after offering a few words of wisdom to help her relax and enjoy her surroundings. He becomes something of a confidante when Edie finds herself confessing the dire circumstances facing the hotel to which he offers some suggestions. One in the form of a legend that has carried through time of the first Queen Elizabeth having sought shelter at the Blue Lion during a blizzard - a tale set to draw in tourists as everyone loves a legend, especially one as famous as a previous Queen.
Everything looks promising in the lead up to Coronation Day until a threat emerges attempting to derail everyone's plans and all of Edie's hard work. Who wishes to stop the Coronation from going ahead? Who would want to bring down the Blue Lion? And who wants to bring Edie to her knees? Who has it against her that much that they would threaten to ruin Coronation Day for everyone?
It goes without saying that I absolutely loved CORONATION YEAR. It had that nice blend of fact with fiction bringing to life something that to most of us would be quite out of reach. I especially enjoyed the epilogue ensuring the Queen was not just there as a backdrop. I totally adored the Queen and was devastated by her death so seeing her brought to life once again through this tale was heartwarming. I thought Robson captured her perfectly - that unique essence that was the Queen...there, but just a little beyond reach. You feel that distance even when in her presence but then that is to be expected. How can one not? She was the Queen. How terribly lonely and isolating it would be despite the hundreds of those from ladies in waiting to soldiers and guards at her disposal. To not just be...because you are the Queen. The author captures that in just a few short pages and yet makes you feel as if you played an important part of the day.
Told through the alternating narratives of Edie, Stella and Jamie, CORONATION YEAR brings to life the countdown to this momentous event in history from the dawn of the new year, month by month up until the Coronation and then through towards the end of the year where everything is deftly wrapped up.
I had shelved "The Gown" to read some time ago but forgot about it until I came across this one. Now I shall have to make sure to read it in between my hundreds of others in my TBR pile.
A wonderfully delightful read, CORONATION YEAR is perfect for royal fans with that little bit of fact cleverly woven with fiction.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Jennifer was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. She studied French literature and Modern History as an undergraduate at King’s University College at Western University, then attended Saint Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where she obtained my doctorate in British economic and social history. While at Oxford she was a Commonwealth Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow.
Jennifer lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and children, and shares her home office with Bonnie the sheepdog and her feline companions Mika, Rachel, and Obi.
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