The Stolen Queen

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and child death.

Charlotte is the protagonist of the novel; readers have access (via omniscient narration) to her inner thoughts and feelings, and the main conflict revolves around her quest to resolve the mystery of what happened to her husband and daughter. At the start of the main plot, Charlotte is a seemingly poised and confident woman of about 60; while her career is somewhat stagnant, she remains passionate about her work at the Met, and she also enjoys a relationship with her long-term partner, Mark. Charlotte is also excited by her long-term research project of reimaging the historical reputation of the female pharaoh Hathorkare.

At the start of her character arc, however, Charlotte is grappling with grief and trauma that she has never resolved. The loss of her husband and child would have been horrifying under any circumstances, but two factors make it particularly damaging for Charlotte. First, because their bodies are never found, she remains haunted by a lack of closure. Second, Charlotte never fully processes this loss because she keeps it secret. Her parents encourage her to pretend like this experience never happened, and her fiancé abandons her after she confides in him.