Mrs Queen Takes the Train

A lively, witty debut novel reminiscent of Alan Bennett's An Uncommon Reader, following Queen Elizabeth as she surreptitiously strolls out of the palace for a little respite from her duties, and the small band of courtiers who set out to find her before a national scandal explodes. After decades of service and years of watching her family's troubles splashed across the tabloids, Queen Elizabeth needs some proper cheering up. An impromptu visit to the place that holds her happiest memories-the former royal yacht, Britannia, moored in Leith, Scotland-is just the cure she needs. Hidden beneath a skull-emblazoned hoodie, the limber Elizabeth (thank goodness for yoga) walks out of Buckingham Palace, into the freedom of a rainy London day to catch the train to Scotland at King's Cross. But an unlikely sextet of royal attendants-a lady-in-waiting, a butler, an equerry, a mistress of the Mews, a dresser, and a clerk from the shop that serves the queen's cheese-join together to find their missing monarch and bring her back before her absence sets off a national scandal.

Mrs Queen Takes the Train offers a fresh new look at a seemingly arcane institution, and a woman who wonders if, she, too, has become a relic of the past. William Kuhn paints a charming yet biting portrait of British social, political, and generational rivalries-between servants and royals, the monarchy and the government, the old and the young. Humorous and poignant, fast-paced and clever, this delightful debut tweaks the pomp of the British monarchy, going beneath its rigid formality to reveal the human heart of the woman at its center.