A Review of The Forty Elephants by Erin Bledsoe

When people think of women in the 1920s, they usually picture flappers who just danced and partied. But in the tough neighborhoods of London, some women were doing something very different. They were forming gangs, fighting, and stealing to get power.

Erin Bledsoe's novel, The Forty Elephants , is about this hidden history. It’s a story about London's most famous all-female gang. The book is a mix of real events and exciting fiction.

If you like shows like Peaky Blinders , you'll probably enjoy this book. It's for readers who want stories about strong women who aren't always good. This book is about women with the weapons and the power.

Star Rating: 4.5 / 5 Stars

What's the Book About?

Plot Summary (Spoiler-Free)

The Forty Elephants is about how a young woman becomes a crime boss. Her name is Alice Diamond, and she's trying to get by in a tough London neighborhood called the Mint. The story is set in the 1920s when the city was full of gang wars.

The story kicks off when Alice's father goes to jail. Her brother gets into debt with a dangerous rival gang. Alice has to step up and take control to save her family.

She gets an offer from a woman named Mary Carr. Mary leads the Forty Elephants, a group of female shoplifters. Alice was always told to stay away from gangs, but she sees this as her only way to get the power and money she needs.

Alice and the other women start robbing fancy department stores. They get a taste of a glamorous life they've never known. But Alice soon finds she's a natural leader and wants more power.

Her need to protect her family turns into a thirst for control. The book follows her journey as she becomes the new "Queen of the Mint." She's willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top.

My Thoughts on the Book

Strong, Complex Characters

The best part of the book is its main character, Alice Diamond. You might ask if she's a hero or a villain, but she's really an anti-hero. She is loyal but also very brutal.

She's not a character who feels bad about her choices. The book shows early on that she's willing to be violent to protect her family.

Alice is tough and doesn't show mercy when someone crosses her. She just wants to protect her family and take what she feels she's owed. The book is about her becoming the crime boss she was always meant to be.

The other characters in the gang are like a "found family." But their sisterhood is complicated. It's based on business and power, not just friendship.

Alice's old friend Maggie helps her join the gang. Her mentor, Mary Carr, is the leader she has to overcome. The biggest betrayal in the story comes from inside the gang, not from rival men.

To get more power, Alice has Mary arrested by the police. This shows that in her world, getting ahead means being just as ruthless as the men.

Pace, Plot, and Setting

This book is not slow. The Forty Elephants is a fast-paced and gritty story. The tension never stops.

The writing style is short and direct, like old-school crime stories. This style usually describes male characters. Using it for Alice and her all-female gang makes a powerful point that women can be just as tough.

The setting of 1920s London feels very real. The author shows two different sides of the city. There's the poor neighborhood of the Mint, with its pickpockets and gang fights.

Then there's the fancy West End with its luxury stores and rich people. The Forty Elephants operate in the space between these two worlds. They use crime to get a piece of the wealth that society denied them.

Big Ideas in the Book

Besides the exciting plot, the book explores some big ideas about power, class, and being a woman.

• Women Taking Power: The story is all about women making their own way in a man's world. They aren't just girlfriends of criminals; they are the criminals. They run their own show with precision.
• Sisterhood and Betrayal: The book looks at how women support each other. The gang is like a family that offers protection. But it's also a business where ambition can lead to betrayal, like when Alice turns on Mary.
• Crime as Survival: This theme explains why they do what they do. The story shows how hard it was for the working class. For these women, crime was a way to escape poverty.
• The Cost of Power: This is all about Alice's journey. To gain power, she has to give up her old self and her relationships. The story shows that becoming the "girl from the Mint" is both her strength and her downfall.

The True Story Behind the Fiction

The book is fiction, but it's based on a true story that's even more interesting. It helps to know about the real women who inspired the book. The author took some big creative steps to make the story work well.

Who Were the Real Forty Elephants of London?

The Forty Elephants were a real all-female crime group. They were based in the Elephant and Castle area of London. They were very organized and active for a long time, from the 1870s to the 1950s.

They were experts at shoplifting. Here are some of their methods:

• Custom Clothing: They wore fancy clothes with lots of hidden pockets. They could hide stolen goods in their coats, skirts, and hats.
• Organized Raids: They would swarm a fancy store all at once. Sometimes they did "smash and grab" robberies. Other times they pretended to be rich shoppers to avoid suspicion.
• Diversified Crime: They did more than just shoplift. They would pretend to be maids to rob rich homes. They also blackmailed powerful men.
• A Criminal Network: They worked with a male gang called the Elephant and Castle Mob. They had a network of people to sell the stolen goods. This included everything from jewelry to expensive fabric.

The Reign of the Real Alice Diamond

The gang's most famous leader was the real Alice Diamond. She was born Alice Black in 1896 and grew up in a tough South London area. She became the "Queen" of the Forty Elephants around 1915 when she was only 19.

She was a tough person to deal with. She was over five-foot-eight, which was very tall for a woman back then. Her nickname was "Diamond Annie."

She got the name because she wore diamond rings on both hands. She wasn't afraid to use her fists and could punch as hard as a man.

The real Alice was known for being ruthless but also stylish. She loved wearing expensive furs and would even show up to robberies in a limo. Under her leadership in the 1920s, the gang was at its peak.

She was a criminal her whole life and later opened her own brothel. She never got married and died in 1952.

Fact vs. Fiction in the Novel

This is where you can see how the author changed things for the story. The biggest change was squeezing the timeline. This made the book more dramatic.

The main difference is how the two most famous leaders are shown.

• In the Novel: The story is set in the 1920s. Alice Diamond is recruited by Mary Carr. They work together before becoming rivals.
• In Reality: These two "Queens" were from different times. Mary Carr was the leader during the Victorian era. Alice Diamond took over later and led the gang in the 1920s.

By the time Alice was in charge, Mary Carr was near the end of her life. This change in the book wasn't a mistake; it was a smart choice for the story. By putting both women in the 1920s, the author creates a personal conflict between a mentor and her student.

The book gets a lot of other details right. The McDonald crime syndicate is based on the real Elephant and Castle Mob, led by the McDonald brothers. The Mint was a real neighborhood, and the gang's glamorous lifestyle and criminal methods are all based on history.

Common Questions

How did the Forty Elephants get their name?

This is a popular question. The answer is part fact and part guess.

• The "Elephants": This part is simple. The name comes from where the gang was based. They were from the Elephant and Castle area in South London.
• The "Forty": This part is less clear. Here are a few popular ideas:
  1. It might just be the number of women in the gang at one point.
  2. It could be a reference to the story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." The gang was often called the "Forty Thieves" by newspapers.
  3. Another theory is that it was a joke. A leader came back from a robbery with so much stolen stuff under her clothes that someone said she looked like "the queen of forty elephants."

Is there a Forty Elephants movie or TV series?

People get confused because two projects are based on the same true story. But they are very different from each other.

• First, there's Erin Bledsoe's novel, The Forty Elephants . As of now, there's no movie or TV show based on this specific book.
• Then there's a Disney+ TV series called A Thousand Blows . This show is also inspired by the Forty Elephants.

Here's the key difference between them.

• Bledsoe's novel is set in the 1920s. It's about Alice Diamond's rise to power.
• The TV show, A Thousand Blows , is set much earlier in the 1880s. It focuses on Mary Carr as the leader of the gang.

So, they tell stories from different eras of the gang's history and are not connected.

Final Thoughts and Similar Books

Erin Bledsoe's The Forty Elephants is a fast-paced and exciting thriller. It's a great story about crime and betrayal. It's also a good introduction to a forgotten part of women's history.

The book's direct writing style and its tough female main character are what make it so good.

The author changes the historical timeline to make the story more dramatic. Some people might not like this. But it helps turn decades of history into a powerful story about people.

Who Should Read This Book?

You should read this book if you like historical fiction that is more gritty than glamorous. It's a great pick for:

• Fans of the show Peaky Blinders who want a similar story focused on women.
• People who read other books on the topic, such as Heather Webb's Queens of London .
• Anyone who loves a fast-paced story where women are in charge.

Books Like The Forty Elephants

If you liked The Forty Elephants and want to know what to read next, here are five ideas:

1. To Get the Real Story: Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants: Britain's First Female Crime Syndicate by Brian McDonald. This non-fiction book tells you the true story of the gang. It's the perfect follow-up if the novel made you curious.
2. Another Take on the Same Story: Queens of London by Heather Webb. This novel is about the exact same people and events. Reading it after Bledsoe's book shows how two different authors can tell the same story.
3. For Fans of Peaky Blinders : The Gangs of Birmingham by Philip Gooderson. If you love the historical setting of Peaky Blinders , this book gives you the real history. It tells you about the real gangs from the show.
4. For a Story About Female Secrets: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. This book is about female friendships and secrets in 1950s Washington, D.C. It has similar themes of sisterhood and danger.
5. For More 1920s Crime: Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle. This story is also set in the 1920s. It's about the dangerous world of smuggling alcohol during Prohibition in the U.S.

What Do You Think?

Have you read The Forty Elephants ? What did you think about the changes to the real history? Do you think it's more important for historical fiction to tell a good story or stick to the facts? Share your thoughts in the comments.