Queen K: The 'dark and brilliant' 2023 debut novel that uncovers the corruption of the Russian super-rich

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'An enjoyably voyeuristic drama of ambition, exploitation and betrayal, which illustrates how desire for acceptance can lead us to neglect others' - The Bookseller Pick of the Month

On a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. Uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined.

Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful.

Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy.

Reviews

'Beautifully crafted and compelling. Thomas perfectly captures the textures of entitlement and the inner workings of Russian plutocratic life lived between Moscow and Europe's glamour resorts' - Caroline Knowles, author of Serious Money

'Thrilling, revealing and disturbing, Queen K dives deep into the hidden lives of the mega-rich, the dark structures of privilege and power, and the lies we tell ourselves to keep the illusion afloat. Thomas knows her subject inside out and it shows - her dazzling debut is both a gripping mystery and a relevant treatise on the dangers of wealth without limits' - Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

'A wry, unsettling take on privilege, avarice and corruption. This book pulls back the curtain on the lives of the ultra-rich and reveals a world fatally distorted by greed and arrogance; it navigates questions of class and complicity with a rare deftness.' - Keiran Goddard, author of Hourglass

Author Bio

Sarah Thomas worked for years as a private tutor to the super-rich. She lives in London and this is her first novel.