The Girl in the Locket

1581: Abducted from her home by English sailors, a young West African girl is brought to Queen Elizabeth I as a gift. Johana Blackmore’s life at the Tudor court is bitterly lonely – until she forms a secret and perilous friendship with a famous artist.

2008: Hapless museum intern Finn Daley thinks his luck has finally changed when he discovers Johana’s lost portrait in a locket. Determined to carve out a space for himself in the elitist art world, and keen to learn more about the mysterious girl, he turns detective. But is the painting all it seems? And what is he prepared to sacrifice to find out?

As Finn races for the truth, crossing five centuries and two continents, and exposing the painful legacies of Britain’s colonial past, he starts to realise that everything he loves is at stake.

With themes of class, ambition and freedom, and echoes of A.S. Byatt’s Possession, The Girl in the Locket is an art history detective novel and a love story that will keep you turning the pages to its dramatic conclusion.