The Forty Elephants

Alice Diamond is de facto leader of a group of petty thieves living in a tough London neighborhood known as the Mint. Alice truly cares about the welfare of those she leads and strives to follow her father’s lead in keeping the peace and warding off incursions from outside gangs. Although she resents being seen as less capable because she is a woman, she tenaciously maintains her leadership position. When a childhood friend offers Alice a place in the Forty Elephants, a classy ring of shoplifters comprised entirely of women, she joins only because she must pay off her brother’s debts. Though Alice does well in the gang, she is a leader, not a follower, and soon, she ambitiously plans an audacious robbery. Bledsoe’s engaging debut fictionalizes a true story of a similar female gang in the 1920s. Narrator Hannah Curtis expertly embodies Bledsoe’s well-rounded and complex characters. Curtis provides a wide range of character voices, with excellent pacing and emotion.