QUEUING FOR THE QUEEN
BY SWÉTA RANA
Published: 6th July 2023
HEAD OF ZEUS BOOKS
One queue. 250,000 people. Twenty-four life-changing hours.
A young boy wearing a cereal box crown, impatiently dragging his mother behind him.
A friendly man in a khaki raincoat, talking about his beloved Leeds United to anyone who will listen.
An elderly woman who has lived her life alongside the Queen, and is just hoping she’ll make it to the end of the queue to say goodbye.
And among them, a British Indian mother and daughter, driven apart by their differences, embarking on a pilgrimage which neither of them yet know will change their lives forever.
I’ll be honest, if this book hadn’t landed in my postbox, it probably would have passed me by completely. But thankfully, we ended up together, and this is the book I didn’t know I needed to read. Now, I’m no royalist, far from it. But that’s not important here. What matters is each person’s story. Each person in that queue. Swéta Rana has done something remarkable in writing this book; she’s gathered together just a handful of characters and told part of their story with such wonderful depth of emotion.
I could not put this down! It really is a remarkable debut.
*Special thanks to Head of Zeus for sending a limited edition proof. This is my honest review.
5 / 5
A remarkable debut with wonderful depth of emotion