The Diary of Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Novel by Victoria Princewill (author)

“[Victoria Princewill’s] real skill, in this highly engaging book, is to create a convincing Victorian heroine to whose emotional highs and lows any modern reader will relate. ” – The Daily Telegraph
Highly Commended for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2024

A powerful retelling of the extraordinary life of orphaned African princess, Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

“You are not an aristocrat. An aristocrat is born to a noble family. You were born into royalty. You are a princess.”
Set in 1860, this is the story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the intelligent, multilingual Yoruba princess from West Africa who became the protégé of the British Queen Victoria.
On the evening of her seventeenth birthday, she is told that her old name, her real name is Aina. Oma’ba Aina from the fallen Oyo Empire.
Equipped with this knowledge, Sarah attempts to navigate life as a foster daughter, a protégé and a young black girl in Victorian England. But can one really feel like royalty when the freedom of autonomy is something so far out of reach for a person of her gender and race?
Victoria Princewill reimagines Sarah’s life in England, telling the story of a girl living between two cultures, trying to create, and assert, her own identity.

• The first of two titles from Victoria that will focus on real Black women born into royalty


• A very exciting new voice in YA fiction


• Victoria aims to to shed light on women’s stories that have been forgotten by history


• From the author of In the Palace of the Flowers.