The secret of the mysterious Greek vase

Author: Susan Stokes-Chapman Publisher: Vintage – Penguin Random House / 2023 Pages: 408

Prepare to lift the lid on a lush reimagination of the mythical Pandora story. Susan Stokes-Chapman’s atmospheric debut immerses the reader in the dangerous, mysterious world of ancient antiques.

London, 1799. Dora Blake, an aspiring jewellery artist, lives with her grasping uncle on top of the shop that used to belong to her late parents.

After a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, her uncle begins to act suspiciously, keeping the vase locked up in the building’s basement, away from prying eyes – including Dora’s.

Intrigued by her uncle’s suspicious behaviour, Dora enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young antiquarian scholar, who eagerly agrees to help.

Edward believes the ancient vase could be the key to unlock his academic future. Dora sees it as a chance to establish her own name as a jewellery designer. It is also a chance to restore the shop to its former glory, and to escape her nefarious uncle.

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 nearer to the surface than they appear.

Steeped in mystery and rich in imagination, this exhilarating historical novel set in Georgian London is a story of myth and mystery, secrets and deception, fate and hope.

The author was born in 1985 and grew up in the historic city of Lichfield, Staffordshire.

This is her debut novel and it became an instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller. It was previously shortlisted for the 2020 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and also longlisted for the Bath Novel Award of that same year.