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Victoria Princewill

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Victoria Princewill
Born1990
Manchester, England
Alma mater
OccupationNovelist
Notable workIn the Palace of Flowers (2021)
AwardsHistorical Association Young Quills Award – Highly Commended (2024)


Victoria Princewill FRSA[1] (born 1990) is an English writer and novelist best known for her historical fiction.

She is the author of two books: In the Palace of Flowers (2021) and The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta (2023).[2][3] In the Palace of Flowers was named one of the Top 5 Books of 2021 by Times Radio presenter Mariella Frostrup.[4]

In 2024, she was Highly Commended for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award for Best Historical Fiction for Young People, for her YA novel, ''The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta.''[5]

Early life and education

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Princewill was born in Manchester in 1990.[6] She is a descendant of the Princewill family of the Kalabari Kingdom, a traditional state in Nigeria’s Niger Delta. In her 2021 essay for Granta, Princewill reflected on her heritage and ancestral ties to the region’s ruling structures.[7]

She graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Language and Literature from Keble College, Oxford University.[8] She completed a Master of Arts (MA) in Philosophy at University College London (UCL) in 2015. She also received an MA (Oxon) in English in 2019. As of 2021, she was pursuing a Master of Science (MSc) in neuroscience at King's College London.[9]

Writing

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In the Palace of Flowers

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Princewill's debut novel, In the Palace of Flowers, was published in 2021 by Cassava Republic Press.[10][11]

Set in the Qajar court of Iran in 1894, In the Palace of Flowers is inspired by one of the only available first-person accounts of a black woman enslaved there. Princewill tells the story of the lesser known Trans-Saharan slave trade, a contradictory experience, where the enslaved, concubines and eunuchs with access to wealth and power were educated. Educated but not empowered, the novel follows Jamila and Abimelech, two Abyssinians, pursuing meaningful lives while navigating the deadly politics of the opulent and sinister Persian court. This takes place amidst rising nationalism, a little over a decade before the Persian Constitutional Revolution.[12][13]

In the Palace of Flowers was named Top 5 Books of 2021 by Times' Radio by Mariella Frostrup,[14] Best books of 2021 by African Arguments, the Royal African Society's online magazine,[15] and was specially recommended by Harvard.[16]

Paul Spalding-Mulcock, reviewing it in The Yorkshire Times, declared, "Victoria Princewill's debut [...] a compelling example of historical fiction at its finest"[17] adding that "her prose is a thing of measured, elegant beauty."

Samira Sawlani, Al-jazeera journalist[18] and co-founder of the Bare Lit Festival said "Through beautiful prose the hugely gifted Victoria Princewill transports us to another time and world, telling a story which has one wholly absorbed. Love, danger, politics, history and art, In The Palace of Flowers is a sweepingly stunning tale that has it all."[19]

Minna Salami praised her "captivating storytelling skills and impressive historical knowledge," describing the book as "an awe-inspiring, dynamic and powerful novel about a part of African history that few other writers have told".[19] Calling the book "restorative" and "illuminating," she wrote that it "gripp[ed] the reader's mind with vivid and seductive language".[19]

Writing about it for Electric Literature, Megan Benard called it a 'deeply moving and beautiful account of a woman trying to find the freedom she's always lacked' and included In the Palace of Flowers in her 11 books about misunderstood women in history.[20]

Aincre Evans, a feminist scholar of African feminist theory and a DPhil candidate at Oxford, listed In the Palace of Flowers as one of their 5 must-read African Feminist Books, referring to "Princewill [as having] weave[d] a beautiful plot of politics, love, resistance, and history into being."[21]

On her impetus for writing In the Palace of Flowers, Princewill has stated that Jamila

had written a letter that detailed her existence but only really her ancestry and her status as an enslaved woman in Iran and the men between whom she was sold. Hers was the only readily available story and the mere fact that it had survived when there was a concerted effort to erase the history of Abyssinians in Iran made me determined to do justice to what I took to be her own perseverance and to give her the humanity she had been denied.[22]

The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta

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Princewill's second and latest novel, The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel, is a coming-of-age young adult novel, published by Scholastic.[23] It is inspired by Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the multilingual African princess turned orphan who was transported to England and raised as a ward of Queen Victoria. The novel was Highly Commended for the Historical Association's Young Quills Award 2024,[24] and longlisted for the Diverse Book Awards 2024.[25]

Regarding The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a young reader wrote, '"Overall, this book has made me realized that I have a voice, and that I should use it. It has made me feel a sense of empowerment of knowing my self worth and boundaries. It has changed me as a person; for the better."'[26][24] Emily Bearn, reviewing The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta in The Daily Telegraph, called it "highly engaging", noting that, "Victoria Princewill skillfully reimagines [Bonetta's] story."[27] Giving it 4/5 stars, Bearn added that "[Princewill]'s real skill is to create a convincing Victorian heroine to whose emotional highs and lows any modern reader will relate."[27]

Other

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Princewill's essay for Granta, "What's in a name?" explored through British Vogue's revelation that 'Thandie' Newton, the British actress, was actually called Thandie Newton, and how naming works as a social experience, writing about her own family name: "Our names, and selves, function, first, in social spaces, as reflections echoed back to us."[28] The essay was named among Literary Hub's "Best of the Literary Internet" roundup for July 6-10, 2021.[29]

She has written for n+1,[30] the Guardian,[31] and the London Review of Books,[32] among other publications.

Publications

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  • In the Palace of Flowers. Cassava Republic. 2021. ISBN 978-1911115755.
  • The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel. Scholastic. 2023. ISBN 9780702311482.

References

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  1. ^ "Meet four Fellows making an impact towards racial justice, equity and inclusion". The RSA. 23 October 2023.
  2. ^ "Meet the new generation creating their own happily ever after in the white publishing world". gal-dem.
  3. ^ Evaristo, Bernardine (26 March 2023). "Bernardine Evaristo: 2023 Is A Breakthrough Year For Black British Women Novelists". British Vogue.
  4. ^ Princewill, Victoria (23 December 2021). "Thanks to the queen of @timesradio @mariella_frostrup cc @thetimes for the recognition of #INTHEPALACEOFFLOWERS". Instagram. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Young Quills Winners 2024". Historical Association. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  6. ^ "Victoria Princewill". African American Literature Book Club. Retrieved 21 March 2025.
  7. ^ Princewill, Victoria (7 July 2021). "What's in a Name?". Granta. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  8. ^ "The Record 2019–20" (PDF). Keble College, University of Oxford. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  9. ^ Spalding-Mulcock, Paul (11 May 2021). "Interview With Victoria Princewill". Yorkshire Times. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  10. ^ "18 Books by Black British Writers to Read Now". AnOther. 11 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Readings | Writers Project of Ghana". writersprojectghana.com.
  12. ^ British Library (13 May 2022). HISTFEST Persia: Great Kings and Palaces of Flowers. Retrieved 1 February 2025 – via YouTube.
  13. ^ "HistFest 2022". HistFest. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  14. ^ Princewell, Victoria (23 December 2021). "Thanks to the queen of @timesradio @mariella_frostrup cc @thetimes for the recognition of #INTHEPALACEOFFLOWERS". Instagram. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  15. ^ Sawlani, Samira (8 December 2021). "The best African books of 2021". African Arguments.
  16. ^ "In the Palace of Flowers - Harvard Book Store". www.harvard.com.
  17. ^ Times, Yorkshire. "'We Shall Be Forgotten' : In The Palace Of Flowers By Victoria Princewill". yorkshiretimes.co.uk.
  18. ^ "Samira Sawlani | Al Jazeera News | Today's latest from Al Jazeera". Al Jazeera.
  19. ^ a b c Cardona, Maria (24 February 2021). "'In The Palace of Flowers': Victoria Princewill's debut novel". Pontas. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  20. ^ Assistant2, E. L. (30 August 2023). "11 Books About Misunderstood Women in History and Mythology". Electric Literature. Retrieved 1 February 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "5 African Feminist Books curated by aincre evans". Feminist.
  22. ^ Onafuye, Peace Yetunde (17 April 2023). "On Writing and Reading Women as Historical Actors".
  23. ^ "New YA Fiction Re-imagines the True Story of Victorian-Era Yoruba Princess Who Lived in England". Brittle Paper. 21 March 2023.
  24. ^ a b "Young Quills winners 2024". The Historical Association. 11 July 2024.
  25. ^ "2024 LONGLIST". The DB Awards.
  26. ^ "The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel* / Young Quills reviews 2024 / Historical Association". www.history.org.uk.
  27. ^ a b Bearn, Emily (9 February 2023). "The unlikely meeting of Queen Victoria and a young African princess". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  28. ^ Princewell, Victoria (7 July 2021). "What's in a Name?". Granta. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  29. ^ "Lit Hub Weekly: July 6 – 10". LitHub. 10 July 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  30. ^ "Hear Our Voice". N+1. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  31. ^ Princewill, Victoria (22 December 2015). "It was racism at Oxford, not a statue, that made me buckle". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  32. ^ Princewill, Victoria (13 February 2017). "Victoria Princewill | David Davis, Diane Abbott and Misogynoir". London Review of Books. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
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