Book Review for Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas

 

Queen of Lombard Street by Lisa Kleypas

Published:  October 20, 2026 by William Morrow

Genre:  Historical Fiction,Historical Romance

 

Taken from Goodreads:  From New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas—a sweeping, richly layered Victorian novel about a trailblazing female economist who’s determined to build Britain’s first women’s bank, but she must fight both financial corruption and a system intent on destroying the newly found family she’s created.

In Victorian England, no woman—not even a brilliant economist like Reina Martin—is allowed to open her own bank account. Men will take care of everything, women are told. But Reina knows better. As the illegitimate daughter of a Spanish immigrant mother, she’s haunted by the memory of living with unpaid grocer’s bills and no coal for the hearth.

So together with her mentor, the powerful banker William Farlow, Reina will build the first all-women’s bank, where women can manage their own financial security.

At home, Reina’s domestic staff of recently paroled prisoners are building new lives and becoming a found family. But soon Reina is shocked to discover that her enigmatic butler, John Pembroke, is an undercover police detective. He’s been assigned to investigate Farlow, who’s suspected of financial crime on a scale so massive, it could destabilize the British economy. Pembroke needs Reina’s expertise for a high-stakes nighttime heist to obtain incriminating evidence.

Now Reina faces the agonizing choice of betraying her mentor or turning her back on thousands of working-class families who stand to lose everything. Either way, her dream of the women’s bank may be over.

But courage and sacrifice aren’t limited to the battlefield—they also occur at the kitchen table, where women who believe in compassion and community are working to remake the future. And when the stakes are highest, Reina knows to trust her heart as well as her intellect.

Based on real-life trailblazers such as Mary Paley Marshall, Britain’s first female economist, and financial titan Hetty Green, Queen of Lombard Street brings to light the hidden history of extraordinary women whose achievements should be celebrated. How can we know who we are, if we don’t know who we were?

My Thoughts:  There needs to be more women like Reina Martin.  Women who do not let society tell them where they belong.  Women who do not stay in their station in life.  Women who are willing to take on anyone who tells them what to do with their lives.   Women like Reina Martin.   This woman can do anything and proves it over and over again. 

I loved everything about this story.  Reina’s respect for her employees, even if they are paroled people, was perfect.  It added twists and turns along with laughs and cringes that kept me entertained.  I liked that each character has their own story but together they form a family that protects and watches out for each other. 

Queen of Lombard is a historical fiction book that I enjoyed from the beginning to the end.   The characters are wonderful, the story is fun, and I was invested through the entire book.

Thank you William Morrow for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

Meet the Author(taken from her website):  Lisa Kleypas graduated from Wellesley College with a political science degree. Her novels are published in forty different languages and are bestsellers all over the world. She lives in California with her husband, Gregory.