Susan Stokes-Chapman

London, 1799. Dora Blake, an aspiring jewelry artist, lives with her odious uncle atop her late parents’ once-famed shop of antiquities. After a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, her uncle begins to act suspiciously, keeping the vase locked in the store’s basement, away from prying eyes–including Dora’s. Intrigued by her uncle’s peculiar behavior, Dora turns to young, ambitious antiquarian scholar Edward Lawrence who eagerly agrees to help. Edward believes the ancient vase is the show more key that will unlock his academic future; Dora sees it as a chance to establish her own name.

But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has believed about her life, her family, and the world as she knows it. As Dora uncovers the truth, she comes to understand that some doors are locked and some mysteries are buried for a reason, while others are closer to the surface than they appear.

Steeped in mystery and rich in imagination, an exhilarating historical novel set in Georgian London where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek vase sets in motion conspiracies, revelations, and romance.

This was bad.

Don’t be fooled by the book’s blurb and promise of historical fiction featuring mythology and archaeology. The book is about neither.

What the book is about in summary is a young airhead named Pandora who is an orphan, is in her early 20s, lives with her abusive uncle, wants to be a costume designer but has to work in her uncle’s run-down antiques shop, and who finally starts a romantic relationship with a guy who is another antiques enthusiast.

The only connection to mythology in this book is Pandora’s name and the fact that at some point she opens an ancient Greek vase … but nothing much happens.

The only connection to archaeology is that Pandora’s parents used to travel to Greece to dig out artefacts…or loot the Greek countryside, depending on your view … to sell them back in their shop in London.

As for the historical fiction part, the important parts that the plot hinged on in the end were more historical fantasy than fact. I.e. I think the author got her history wrong with respect to the archaeology. While it is possible that a couple of private individuals may have dug for treasure in the Greek country side at the time Pandora’s parents would have done, Greece – and particularly Mycenae – only became a destination for British archaeologists a few years later.

Also, I am not sold in the idea that Pandora’s parents would have been in possession of a safe big enough to hold a grown man, with a locking mechanism of a modern safe, and also have a cellar that hides what I can only describe as a bank’s strong room at a time when small safes only just became popular enough to replace traditional strong boxes. I’m not saying it’s impossible. It’s just not … likely.

Apart from the really annoying writing style where descriptions and info-dumping drowned out the telling of the actual story, the airheaded main character who somehow is not acquainted with society’s expectations of women in the Georgian era and somehow believes she can be a jewelry designer … (whatever, … yawn), really was not interesting in the least. Nor were any of the other characters this book bored me with.

I basically DNF’d the book, but wanted to find out what happened so skim-read to one of the most ridiculous endings ever. No spoilers, but let us just say that the MC’s salvation basically hinged on spontaneous combustion being a real threat to drunk people.

Never mind, moving on to the next book … I really should stay away from pretty covers. show less

Oozing old-fashioned literary charm, this book pulls readers into the heart of the antiquities industry in Georgian England. With a mysteriously cursed ancient object, a sweet romance and an ambitious heroine who longs to sell her jewelry designs, this book brings myriad delights.

Pandora Blake, named by her archeologist mother for the famous myth, lives with her uncle after the death of her parents. Always the less-talented member of the family, he's resorted to selling fake antiques to show more unsuspecting customers. But when a mysterious package arrives and is delivered to the basement, Pandora begins to suspect that something more sinister may be going on. Her uncle's associates suspect a curse is haunting them all, while her uncle has his own reasons for the package - a Grecian vase - being the most important thing in his life.

Meanwhile, a chance meeting with Edward Lawrence, a bookbinder trying to build a name for himself in antiquities, may bring Pandora some answers. But letting others into her insular world also brings dangers, as her uncle's ambitions refuse to be thwarted and Edward's wealthy friends aren't as sympathetic to her precarious home life.

The mystery kept me turning pages to find out what the Greek vase was bringing to the characters' lives, and the three-character POV was used perfectly to reveal secrets and motives at the right time. I especially loved the flashbacks to Pandora's early childhood on dig sites with her parents and the description of how she gained inspiration for her jewelry designs.

Perfect for any lover of historical mysteries.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

Twenty-one-year-old Pandora “Dora” Blake lives and works in her late parents' antiquities shop in Georgian London. Her parents had been renowned antiquarians specializing in Grecian artifacts and had made their living excavating tombs in South-Eastern Europe. Their untimely death in a mishap during an excavation twelve years ago left Dora orphaned and under the care of her unscrupulous and corrupt uncle Hezekiah Blake who promptly took over the shop and is responsible for its present show more state of disrepute, dealing mostly in forgeries and objects with not much historical significance. Dora aspires to be a jewelry designer and spends time honing her craft with her faithful pet magpie Hermes by her side, despite the constant beratement and ridicule of her uncle who would rather be rid of her.

One day her uncle acquires a mysterious crate and stores it in the basement of the shop under lock and key. Hezekiah’s obsession with the object and strange sounds coming from behind the locked door of the basement fuel Dora’s curiosity and she manages to trick her uncle and enter the basement and is fascinated by what she sees. The crate contained a rare Grecian jar or “pithos” in pristine condition with images of Greek mythological figures across its surface.

“There is a sudden sigh, a hum, a fluttering. It comes not from behind but in front of her, from within the vase, and Dora hears all at once its siren call, its darkling plea. It is the hush of wind, the whisper of waves, the music of grief, and she cannot help it, she cannot resist. Dora lifts the lid.”

The intricate patterns on the artifact inspire Dora’s new designs that she hopes will attract the interest of local jewelers who up until then haven't been too impressed with her sketches. To find out more about the pithos and its origins she enlists the help of bookbinder and aspiring antiquarian Edward Lawrence, who expresses a scholarly interest in the same, in hopes that his research into this mysterious artifact would earn him a place with the Society of Antiquaries, an endeavor in which he has been unsuccessful so far. It also appears that the pithos has brought with it a bout of bad luck to those involved in the acquisition- the Coombes brothers who extracted it from a shipwreck are each afflicted with strange injuries and illnesses that won’t heal and Hezekiah incurs an injury while transporting it to his shop which also seems to fester. Together as Dora and Edward dig deeper into the origin and history of the pithos and also try to figure out how it ended up in Hezekiah's possession, they uncover much about Hezekiah’s nefarious dealings as well as the secrets and myth surrounding the pithos and how it connects to Dora and her family.

Susan Stokes-Chapman's Pandora is an impressive debut novel. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story with its historical backdrop of Georgian England, a cast of interesting characters, engaging narrative and a mystery with the Greek myth of Pandora at its core. The prose is elegant, the story is well-paced and the setting is quaint yet atmospheric. I found the segments detailing facets of the antiquarian trade and illegal practices in the sale of valuable artifacts prevalent in that era very interesting. The cover design of the physical book is stunning and worthy of display. I would definitely recommend this novel to fans of historical fiction who don't mind a bit of fantasy and myth thrown in for good measure. show less

This was really disappointing. It started of well enough, and I was enjoying it. At first this book seemed like it would be a very easy 4-5 star book, but then the story started stalling only to rush the ending as the writing style shifted from being vivid to dull as once exciting characters are only being told what is happening rather than experiencing it themselves. As a result none of what should be the most interesting elements of the story like the mystery, the romance, the fantasy and show more the characters felt like they were given enough time or space to reach the right or even a good denouement. The end product was dull and lacking in dimension. I felt like reading this book was a waste of my time. show less