Victoria Shepherd

Historian, Author

Press or contributor enquiries for Victoria Shepherd via Matilda Warner at Oneworld mwarner@oneworld-publications.com Rep’d Tim Bates at PFD tbates@pfd.co.uk. (For literary rights to Stony Jack and A History of Delusions contact Luigi Bonomi at LBA Books luigi@lbabooks.com)

New non-fiction Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside: Treasure and Ghosts in the London Clay (June 2025) https://linktr.ee/victoriashepherdwriter

Paperback coming 2nd April 2026! Available to preorder now https://linktr.ee/victoriashepherdwriter

Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside is the story of the 1912 discovery of a dazzling Treasure Trove of Tudor and Stuart Jewellery by labourers working in a cellar in the City of London, and the enigmatic antiquarian known as ‘Stony Jack’ who trafficked the ‘Cheapside Hoard’ into London society just before the First World War. What happened to the gems and jewels after they were dug up, as rich and poor alike, even Queen Mary herself, put their hands in the treasure chest?

Listen: Victoria on Robert Elms’s BBC London show telling the story of the discovery of the Cheapside Hoard https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0lsr623

Listen: Victoria talks to Professor Susannah Lipscomb about the Hoard on Not Just the Tudors Podcast for History Hit https://open.spotify.com/episode/79gCE2rsCS5BD6wApZAzD0

Read: Country Life Magazine feature, 4 February 2026 London Life: ‘The Original Uncut Gems’.

Praise for Stony Jack and the Lost Jewels of Cheapside:

What a story and how skilfully told! A tale about treasure, as twisty and thrilling as any of the adventures of Indiana Jones. Lucy Worsley

A spellbinding dive into the murky world of London’s antiquities. Totally captivating. Lara Maiklem

In this tantalizing account…Shepherd meticulously examines the Hoard’s possible origins and its murky fate…Full of fascinating asides, including a tangent on the similar fate of artefacts later recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb, this rivets. Publishers Weekly

Events for 2026

18th March: British Association Antique Dealers, Army and Navy Club Pall Mall

29th April: Daunt Books Cheapside

18th June: V&A lunchtime lecture

2025

19th June: Daunt Books, Summertown Oxford

14th June: Leigh-on-Sea

25th September: The Goldsmiths’ Fair 2025, Goldsmiths’ Hall

1st October: Waterstones Piccadilly, ‘Hidden London’ panel with Jack Chesher and Lara Maiklem

Also by Victoria Shepherd: A History of Delusions: the Glass King, a Substitute Husband and a Walking Corpse, published by Oneworld, June 2022/paperback June 2023 (Simon and Schuster U.S.), a social history exploring an intriguing psychological phenomenon, told through the lives of ten people from the past who have lived inside an alternative reality.

Read a review of A History of Delusions in the The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/08/05/historys-famous-delusions-those-who-believed-them-why/

Read starred review Publishers Weekly https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780861540914

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