Once A Queen

We have discussed here before the problem of Queen Susan, who later "is no longer a Friend of Narnia," and speculated about what happened to her after, mostly with a hopeful tone that she would find her way back to Aslan's Land and True Narnia in a more conventional way here. Well, it seems someone has put out a new novel on that subject.

Sarah Arthur has a new YA novel Once a Queen that came out this week. From the Amazon blurb:

When fourteen-year-old American Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, she soon discovers that her family, the manor staff, and even the house itself are hiding secrets...

As she starts unraveling the dangerous secrets around the grandmother who is more than she appears, Eva begins to wonder if she, too, is more than she understood herself to be.

I got the introduction in somewhat different words, but essentially the same thought, listening to an interview with the author.  I am only a few minutes in, and the title was a broad hint, but learning that the grandmother was sad and estranged from the family for reasons no one would talk about, I thought This is going to turn out to be Susan. And I was not happy.  I hope the story ends well, but the thought of her still being sad and avoiding discussion of magical worlds late in life brings a little moisture to the eye. 

Let me know how it turns out.