The Other Princess: A Book Review

“You are a river Sarah, and meant to flow. A river is always moving, except sometimes life will try and stop you. A River stops flowing because of the dams, the walls put up by man, or creatures. So don’t separate yourself from others. It will only make it more difficult to love again.” -Tiwa to Sarah Forbes Bonnetta

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This powerful quote to such a young woman who had faced extreme life difficulties is such a prominent way of saying don’t give up hope.

Sarah Bonnetta Forbes was originally born Princess Aina in 1843 in Okeadon  to a Yoruba King and Queen. Her people were of the Egbado clan who were slaughtered by the Agojie, King Ghezo’s elite warriors made of women of Dahomey. They captured other Africans and sold them into slavery to other Europeans and the Americas. Aina or Sarah as she was later called, was spared until a sacrificial ceremony was ready. She spent years in captivity. For such a young person, she learned to evade, spy, and had a thirst for knowledge. However, trust was her biggest issue and something that is relayed out in this book a lot. 

Just before she was to be slain, Captain Fredrick E. Forbes of HMS Bonnetta, came to exchange goods with King Ghezo, but also to persuade him to stop selling slaves. He informed him that Queen Victoria does not approve. Ghezo asks him what gift he would have, and Forbes asks Aina who was shocked if anything. By Forbes receiving Aina as a gift, it saved her life and later had an impact centuries later I have recently discovered. 

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Aina is taken to be dressed in a manner fit for the English style before she departs Africa. She holds deep to her heart a sacred jewel that once belonged to her brother and in the family for generations. This jewel is also a powerful relic of her past and eventual future. Aina despises for a while having to do things differently, however, she is a keen learner and begins to master the English language thanks to the ship’s boy.

Aina is given a new name as she lives with the Forbes family. She is named Princess Sarah Forbes Bonnetta and is introduced eventually to Queen Victoria whose name still rings prominence in the world. Queen Victoria is impressed with Aina and makes her honor bound duty to become her godmother, thereby making Aina her ward. All Sarah could see is that she is royalty and thus be treated as such. Her world for a while is all pomp and circumstance and she loves every minute of it as she is friends with Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice who shows her a royal lifestyle. 

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Sarah loves the Forbes family and learns to adapt to the way of life in England. However, coming from a hot climate, it forces Sarah to be taken back to Africa because she became very ill. The damp weather was not suitable for her lungs in the winter. Sarah is transported to Freetown, in Sierra Leone and attends an all girls school. Her education there is much different than England, and she begins to slowly learn what it means to be a part of something but willfully wanting to be separate. She does not want to learn how to love the other girls. However as time goes on and she is an adult, Sarah learns that with every action, there are consequences, especially royalty is always watched. She also learns throughout life what prejudice is, from either the staff, or in the papers. Sarah begins to become aware of her status in life and what it means to be Queen Victoria’s ward and what it is expected as a person in the royal family. Life is not always what you want it to be. Her stubborn ways also cause consequences that alter what her notion of love and happiness is. However, she also suffers from post traumatic stress which is displayed several times in this book. You don’t see that a lot in historical fiction, nevertheless, can you blame her for in real life suffering through so much pain as a young child?

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This historical fiction novel had me hooked from the very first page. Author Denny Bryce with the stroke of a keyboard, took me across the oceans there and back again and across time. Bryce flawlessly allowed me to feel as if I was in the same room watching Sarah grow up in front of my eyes. I could feel the raw emotions displayed across the pages as Sara encounters adventures, heartache, love and change. The manner in which Bryce effortlessly intertwined fiction and history together was seamless. There were very powerful moments that hit me hard as Aina learned how to accept people in her life, how to move on from tragedy after tragedy. It was cathartic really. What poor soul Aina/Sarah was to go through so much turmoil at such a young age. Bryce was able to really give her soul into this book to make sure her story was told. 

The amount of research Bryce undertook had to be painstaking. After reading this, I scoured the internet to find everything I could about this real life person. I thank my husband for purchasing this as a Christmas gift because I learned again something new and appreciated what this woman went through from childhood to adulthood. 

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There are not a lot of images available of Sara, but from what I found, you could tell she was proud of who she was. The National Portrait Gallery has several prints that you can purchase online along with information on Sarah and the artist that captured her photo. The UK’s Black History Month gives a brief history of Sarah, but also excerpts from Captain Forbes’ personal journal. He describes what it was like to rescue her and how he noticed she was highly intelligent.

The BBC in 2020 wrote an article on Sarah as a new painting of her was displayed to the public at the English Heritage. This organization had acknowledged that there should be more history of Blacks as they are English and part of their history. Hannah Uzor took great pride in her painting of Aina/Sarah as it sat on display at the Isle of Wight’s Osborne’s House.  You can also read more about her from the English Heritage’s site. Helen Rappaport gives a thorough detail of Sarah’s life and her relationship with Queen Victoria that I won’t elaborate. But her relationship is quite unique as you will be able to see in the book, but in real life. Both were equally stubborn at least in the book. I am not sure about their personalities in real life. But it is to be mentioned that Queen Victoria often nicknamed Sarah as Sally.

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Zeniab Badawi gives a profound narrative of Sarah’s story, but also what it means for the Black community in Britain and to have proper attention to their history. In fact, Zeniab met Sara’s descendants in Lagos. She also created a BBC TV Documentary “The Lost Child” which was based on Sara’s life. Surprisingly enough, Sarah was not mentioned in any books with Queen Victoria. It was as if she was an obscure piece of history. To be honest, until my husband bought me this book, I had no idea who she was. However, her drive and determination to survive also passed onto her descendants.

One man in fact learned of Sara Forbes Bonnetta in his 80s as he is a descendant of her. Arnold Awoonor-Gordon had grown up hearing stories from his great-grandmother Emily about Sarah. However, he didn’t truly believe it because he spent so much time trying to find her through research. That was until a BBC documentary entitled “Black and British: A Forgotten History” contacted him that they found where she lived in Gillingham. He came back to the cottage she was at with the BBC crew to unveil a memorial plaque. This cottage was not even a mile away from where he lived and he spent so many years looking for her.

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Another amazing descendant story is one of bravery, and heartache mixed with a deadly epidemic. Sarah’s descendant in Lagos Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, worked at the First Consultant Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. It was there that patient zero from the Ebola virus was admitted. She and her team decided that he needed to be quarantined despite his diplomatic connections. Steadfast in her decisions, the Ebola did not spread throughout Nigeria. Only a small number of people contracted this deadly disease in 2014. Unfortunately Dr. Adadevoh contracted Ebola and died herself.  The BBC wrote an illuminating and enlightening article about the Ebola virus, but also in great detail the heroics of Dr. Adadevoh.

I recently watched a biopic based on the Ebola Virus called “93 Days” and it is directed by Steve Gukas starring Bimbo Akintola as Dr. Adadevoh and Danny Glover as Dr. Benjamin Ohiaeri and her uncle and boss at the First Consultant Hospital. and can be found on several streaming platforms for free. It is a somber and harrowing film which also showcases not only Dr. Adadevoh’s brave deeds, but to the staff who worked and sacrificed their time and lives to save millions.  What her staff and others in a separate run down facility were able to accomplish with the little resources to contain the disease is simply outstanding. She had such a strong determination to not let anyone out and was constantly vigilant to save Nigeria. She definitely had inherited her dynamic, strong, passionate and determined personality from Sara Forbes Bonnetta. Read the Ventures Africa article of “Why ‘93 Days’ is one of the most important movies ever made.”

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Considering Sarah Forbes Bonnetta’s story is making waves as of recently, actress and singer Cynthia Erivo (Harriet and Wicked)  will be starring as Sarah in an upcoming biopic. The BBC is spearheading this film and Erivo will be a producer. This is something that she is proud to do as a Nigerian woman. She is able to represent once again, not only another historical Black figure, but also one from her own culture. I would not be surprised if she did sing several Yoruba songs, as she is a gifted singer. I can not wait to see this film and I don’t even know when production starts!

If you want to grab a few books about Prince Aina/Sarah, head over to Bookshop.org and Scholastic.com to purchase books on this amazing woman. Bookshop.org has Sarah Forbes Bonnetta: Queen Victoria’s African Princess by John Van Der Kiste. Meanwhile Scholastic.com has At Her Majesty’s Request: An African Princess in Victorian England by Walter Dean Myers.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Other Princess which is available at Bookshop.org. Princess Aina/Sarah came from such a frightening background to one of fame, lavish lifestyle, to learning her place in the world. She learned how to navigate through so many tragedies at such a young age. It is people like author Denny Bryce and others who have brought her back to the forefront so we can learn about either our own or other cultures.

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