Pandora

Written By Miriam Hanna

Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

Reviewed by Mimi
📘📘📘📘

Thank you @vintagebooks for an advanced copy of this book.

London at the end of the 1700s. Pandora “Dora” Blake is in the care of her Uncle Hezekiah who is running her parents antique shop following their deaths when she was 9. Dora is an aspiring jewellery designer and has had to watch her Uncle turn her parent’s legacy into a fraudulent endeavour. And then an ancient Greek vase is delivered to the shop which has far greater impact on Dora than she could ever expect. Alongside a budding antique expert Edward Lawrence, she delves into its story and discovers so much more about her own.

This novel is an utter delight. Immediately, Dora was a heroine with an intriguing internal battle about who she was and who her Uncle was making her. The adventure element of the story is a massive driving force and what kept me gripped all the way through. Susan Stokes-Chapman has managed to create such wonderful tension around the vase and she keeps that going through the book masterfully.

This is a treat for the senses, I really hope you all enjoy!

Miriam Hanna

Aka Mimi. I have known Linda for a very, very long time. We grew up together and you learn very quickly that when she gets an idea in her head, you would be an idiot not to back her to see it through. When the idea of the book club came up it was another lightbulb moment where I knew this wasn't only going to be a success but really fun.


I have always been a bookworm. Remember when you were little and you went shopping with your mum or dad and they gave you a toy or something to occupy yourself with whilst you were in the trolley? I used to get books to keep me quiet. They were and are my ultimate form of escapism and more and more they are about understanding who I am as a person. Books make me cry more than films and TV Shows. I can get lost for hours. I love historic fiction, political thrillers and gritty crime novels but also biographies and memoirs of people I find interesting like sportspeople. I was fortunate to be in the Harry Potter generation and if weren't for those books I don't know what I would have. Young literature was so poor at the point. To have a book that had me and my family queuing up at midnight to buy was seriously special.

Whether you listen to audio books, read off a kindle or stick to carrying around good old fashioned hard copies (that's me!) I truly believe reading is the best way to spend some time every day.


The books I would have with me on a desert island? 📚🏝Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Akzaban, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters, The Power by Naomi Alderman, Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou, Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

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