Pandora Cover

“Pandora,” by Susan Stokes-Chapman. New York: Harper Perennial, 2023. 416 pages, $17.00 (paperback).

“Pandora” is Susan Stokes-Chapman’s debut novel and was a smash hit in the United Kingdom before being released in the United States. The main character is Dora (a nickname for Pandora) Blake, who was an aspiring jewelry artist and the daughter of a classical archeologist and an artist/illustrator who were also proprietors of a well-known antiquities and artifacts shop, Blake’s Emporium, in London.

When she was still very young her parents were both killed in a cave-in on one of their digs in Greece and Dora was raised by Hezekiah Blake, her uncle, a mapmaker on the digs who now inherited the shop and began stocking it with fake historical objects.

Hezekiah mistreats his niece and curses her pet magpie, Hermes. He also displaces Dora from her bedroom and moves her to the attic in favor of his housekeeper, Lottie. Dora feels guilty about her uncle’s peddling of forgeries, but there is little that she can do about that. She spends her time keeping the ledger book and occasionally mans the store for her uncle, while her main hope is to design jewelry that can support her life outside the shop.

Bookbinder Edward Lawrence is fascinated by classical antiquities, but has little time to study them when he fails to gain admission to the Society of Antiquaries and is seeking a project that can help him achieve his goal. A chance encounter with a stranger impels him to contact Dora Blake and the two hit it off together.

When Dora becomes suspicious about what Hezekiah is hiding in the basement she makes a copy of his pass key while he is passed out and she and Edward explore the hidden antiquities and discover a huge vase with images of Zeus, Prometheus, and the birth of the first woman, Pandora.

Dora sees on the vase inspiration to draw sketches as designs for jewelry and Edward believes he could document the vase in a paper that the Society could not reject. However, the possibility that Hezekiah is dealing in contraband antiquities could pose disaster for their dreams as well as for the couple’s budding romance.

When Dora impresses Lady Latimer with her jewelry designs, she brings another group of people into the story and other wealthy women contact Dora for items of jewelry. Hezekiah learns what his niece and Edward have been up to and their activities also threaten to expose Hezekiah’s illegal dealings and literally release a Pandora’s box of evils that can destroy Hezekiah and leave Dora without income and a place to live.

It turns out that Sir William Hamilton, a diplomat and collector of classical antiquities (and a major, real-world historical figure) had participated in the dig in Greece with Dora’s parents and had saved Dora’s life in the cave-in.

He had more recently continued the dig and unearthed several objects, including a huge pithos or vase with mythological images, but his ship carrying these back to England had sunk (another historical fact).

These of course are the same antiquities Hezekiah had transported and locked into the basement of his shop. Hamilton helps Lawrence negotiate the difficult challenges he faces and realizes that Hezekiah may have caused the cave-in that killed Dora’s parents and almost killed her as well. Hezekiah plans to make a fortune from some buyer of his antiquities and then to sell his shop and send his niece to live in a brothel.

The British class structure in London in 1799 is very evident in this novel. Sir William and Lady Latimer represent the upper class. Lawrence’s friend and sponsor Cornelius Ashmole does also. Edward and Dora are both in a lower class and it is very clear that their resources are scanty and that they could easily fall into poverty.

The lower class is quite evident in the dock workers, many of whom Hezekiah employs, who will do anything for money and ask no questions. Several of these men believe the vase is cursed and responsible for their wounds. The lack of medical care is also clear with this group because they want to avoid the expense of sending for anyone to treat them and they will suffer the consequences as a result.

The author brings to life daily activities in the streets of London very effectively and readers encounter the cacophony of noises and even the putrid smells in some of the less desirable areas of the city. She also maintains the tension of activities throughout the novel and holds readers’ interest at a high level. All of this plays out as the British begin to fear the aftermath of the French Revolution and the rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Greek mythology is present periodically and the possibility that the vase is actually cursed finds several believers. A mystical element also enters the novel when Dora believes that the vase speaks to her, when Zeus’ presence is suspected, and with some of the antics of the magpie Hermes. “Pandora” is a good story that will entertain readers and I recommend it highly.

– Reviewed by Richard Weigel, New Preston, Connecticut .