51 pages • 1 hour read
The Stolen Queen
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Themes
Complex Loyalties Between Mothers and Daughters
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, and gender discrimination.
The novel depicts several mother-daughter pairs: Charlotte and Layla (Fatima), Annie and Joyce, and Mona and Heba. The close bond that forms between Charlotte and Annie means that they also end up engaging in a surrogate mother-daughter relationship. This is symbolized when, at the end of the novel, Charlotte gives a sprig of jasmine to Annie to match the one that Fatima already has; she explains, “I’m glad I found you as well” (331). These various mother-daughter relationships reveal that even in cases where the relationships are dysfunctional, mothers and daughters have a staunch loyalty to one another. For example, Annie assumes a position of responsibility and caretaking in her relationship with Joyce, musing that “most of the time it [i]s lovely to be needed” (33). However, Annie does not recognize how much her sense of responsibility and caretaking holds her back. This is especially true because the relationship is not reciprocal; Joyce often behaves selfishly.
Annie’s arc of self-development and ability to trust herself can only truly begin once she breaks free of worrying about her mother. The last time that Annie and Joyce speak, Joyce effectively abandons her daughter to pursue a new romantic relationship, implying that the relationship will be severed. Likewise, Charlotte finds greater freedom and autonomy when she is far away from her parents, especially her mother, in Egypt. While Mona and Heba seem to share a close and loving bond, Mona exploits Heba in her project of repatriating Egyptian antiquities and embroils Heba in her criminal activities. All these dynamics reveal that precisely due to the intensity of the bond between mothers and daughters, these relationships can become toxic and oppressive. The relationships are complex because both mothers and daughters must navigate worlds where women are often treated unfairly and subject to strict social policing. As a result, women project these repressions and insecurities onto their daughters. Neither Joyce nor Charlotte’s mother believes that a woman can operate independently in the world without a man, and they project these doubts and fears onto the expectations they hold for their daughters.
However, despite these complex loyalties, the mother-daughter bond is also shown to be powerful and enduring. Even though Layla (Fatima) is lost as a child and grows into an adult without any interactions with her birth mother, she and Charlotte immediately feel a shared bond. Charlotte never lets go of the dream of finding her daughter, even though it seems impossible that she will be able to do so. While Charlotte and Annie don’t have a genetic bond, they come to care for one another deeply and support each other unequivocally. These positive depictions of mother-daughter bonds—including surrogate mother-daughter relationships—reveal that while women can cause each other pain across different generations, they can also provide love, support, and care.
Negative Responses to Women’s Ambition
When Charlotte first becomes interested in Egyptology as an adolescent, her parents are bemused: They can only envision a future in which she becomes a wife and mother, not one in which she pursues a career. Charlotte does manage to gain experience during her time in Egypt, but many of the male archaeologists display clear bias and disdain for her because she is a young and inexperienced woman. When Charlotte unexpectedly becomes pregnant, even she is left wondering whether it will be possible for her to pursue her dreams; she thinks that all she has to look forward to is “many years as a wife and mother” (79). To some degree, Henry’s choice to participate in Leon’s illegal activities can also be traced to suspicions about women’s ambitions. He sees it as his responsibility to be the sole provider in their relationship, and this makes him feel pressure, which ultimately leads him to jeopardize their entire future so that he can access more money. The arc of Charlotte’s experiences in Egypt reflects negative responses to a woman’s ambition and shows how these responses risk constraining her future, even though Charlotte has the confidence and courage to work to undermine them.
David further develops the theme through storylines that take place decades later (in the 1970s) and centuries earlier (in ancient Egypt). This structure reveals that ambitious women have always faced objections and that, while some progress can be made, gender-based discrimination has not disappeared entirely. Decades after Charlotte lives in Egypt, she is relatively independent and successful while living in New York City in the late 1970s. However, she still routinely encounters sexism, including from both her boss and her long-term partner. Charlotte’s dreams and aspirations confuse both Frederick and Mark, who think she should be more easily content. Because, by this time, Charlotte is nearly 60, she also encounters the intersection of ageism and sexism: For example, Frederick tells her, “[Y]ou’re too old to be making drastic life changes” (308), something he would be unlikely to say to a man of a similar age.
The fictional storyline about Charlotte’s ambitions is paralleled by the historical narrative about the female pharaoh Hathorkare (modeled after Hatshepsut); by ruling as an all-powerful queen at a time when it was unthinkable for a woman to do so, Hathorkare offers a powerful model of female ambition and competence. However, her legacy was barely preserved for posterity since a systematic campaign to wipe her out was carried out after her death. Hathorkare and her legacy show that while women have dreamed of grand achievements, it has always been dangerous for them to pursue these dreams. Paired with Charlotte’s story, her legacy shows that women continue to fight for their ambitions.
Resilience in the Face of Personal Loss
As a very young woman, Charlotte endures a terrible loss: She seemingly watches her husband and baby die before her very eyes. Despite this tragic event, Charlotte persistently shows resilience, and this resilience is what allows her to ultimately repair her life. It turns out that Henry and Layla are still alive, but even if she had to accept their loss, Charlotte would likely have been able to do so. Charlotte’s resilience is rooted in her intellectual curiosity, her ability to forge new bonds, and her ability to display forgiveness and empathy. At the start of the novel, even while struggling with complicated and unresolved grief, Charlotte’s enthusiasm for her research project about Hathorkare gives her a sense of purpose. No matter how complicated her personal life becomes as the mystery unfurls, she never loses sight of her interest in restoring Hathorkare’s reputation.
The two goals become even more intertwined as the novel develops. Charlotte becomes adamant about restoring Hathorkare to “her rightful place in history as a strong, admired woman of power” because she also wants to restore her own story and reclaim her status as a mother rather than a bereft woman (332). Even if Charlotte had confirmed that her daughter was gone, her connection to Hathorkare would likely have helped her cope with this loss. Davis exemplifies the succor that Charlotte draws from her engagement with ancient Egypt in her attachment to the Cerulean Queen statue: “The Cerulean Queen gave her hope. Hope that one could be broken and crushed and still carry on, the gleaming remnant proof that something beautiful once existed in this terrible world” (10).
Along with her ambition and intellectual curiosity, Charlotte’s ability to make new connections and her empathy buffer her. She becomes very close with Annie and takes the younger woman under her wing; before that, she had close friends (such as Helen) and a new romantic relationship with Mark. While Charlotte struggles to be vulnerable and completely honest about her past, she remains capable of affection and forging new bonds, which protects her from complete emotional isolation. Charlotte also does not hate the people who have wronged her: She readily forgives Henry for his deception, and she even forgives her parents for having lied to her after Henry came to visit them. Charlotte’s parents effectively doomed her to be alone by keeping her apart from Henry, and yet she displays compassion in reflecting that “she underst[ands] that they were products of their era and had been frightened and shocked by her brash decisions” (235). Charlotte also only feels affection when she reunites with Fatima (Layla) and never feels any bitterness that Fatima did not try to find her sooner. Charlotte’s resilience sets the foundation for her to eventually build a loving relationship with her daughter once they are finally reunited.
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