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Popular TV historian Dr. Lucy Worsley once again proves her popularity is well deserved with this delightful biography of Queen Victoria. But this book is different from any other you may have read about Victoria in that it takes an in-depth look at twenty-four specific days in the Queen’s life which were the most auspicious, from her birth to her death.
Those who read My Name is Victoria, Worsley’s fictionalization for young readers of Victoria – and Victoria Conroy’s – lives last year know how much research she has put into the life of the Queen, and in this volume it spills out, bright and lively and incredibly fascinating. There’s a sixty-four page bibliography and ten more of references, and every page of the book reflects the high quality of that research.
There are a few interesting new facts turned up along the way. Perhaps, Worsley posits through evidence, Victoria and Albert’s marriage was no paradise of perfect harmony, but was in fact a union of two human beings who were flawed and whose marriage had its bruises, lumps and errors. The material about Victoria and Albert’s many children and the semi-happy lives they endured or enjoyed are well known, but in all instances, Victoria – spirited and determined, assertive and brilliant, and then determined to give her life to the theater of royal living – bounces from the page, true and genuine. She is reflected in her gentle moments, her acidic moments – she is captured remarking upon her daughter-in-law Princess Alix: “are you aware that Alix has the smallest brain ever seen?” – and those of frantic tenderness, such as when, unable to let go of her daughter, Beatrice, who desperately wants to marry and be away from her mother’s shadow, Victoria tortures herself thinking of Beatrice being defiled upon the marriage bed and the wedding is eventually conducted beneath the black buntings of mourning and an enormous portrait of Albert.
Worsley does a deep dive into every moment of these important days – we learn right down to the last detail what the queen wore and what she ate. But sometimes this indulgence doesn’t feel necessary to the narrative, which can make the process of reading it lugubriously arduous.
Yet the overall effect is fascinating enough to keep the reader going. From Victoria’s colonial Africa, to Albert’s deathbed, to her own, Lucy Worsley produces an effortlessly readable and solid portrait. Queen Victoria: Twenty Four Days that Changed Her Life is an eminently readable piece of work that keeps the viewer excited and engaged right to the last moment.
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Grade: A
Book Type: Non Fiction
Sensuality: N/A
Review Date: 07/07/19
Publication Date: 01/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Yes! That book was so interesting. I read it two years ago and I still think of it often. The book is called “Victoria’s Daughters” by Jerrold Packard. It was amazing how Victoria pitted the cousins against each other and how those relationships p[ayed out when the cousins reached adulthood and were in positions of power. I think Wilhelm just needed someone to love him unconditionally – imagine how different his life would have been and consequently all of Europe!
That’s what it’s called! I love it; it does a great job exploring their lives.
The whole situation was a sad mess.
Queen Victoria seems to be a woman of endless fascination. I read another biography of her daughters and it was pretty clear to me that the way she manipulated her kids and their affections contributed greatly to WWI and maybe even WWII. Good mothering goes a long way. Bad mothering goes even further!
I think I read the same biography and I LOVE that one. It’s very arguable when you considered how she shoved Vicky into marrying Frederick and into Prussia Because Albert and how the German people rebelled against Frederick’s shitty imperialism/Vicky’s very English behavior. Frederick’s shitty advisers begat WWI, which begat WWII. That’s two generations of bad parenting in a row, maybe three if you count what Victoria’s mom did with her. I kind of wonder how her great-great grandchildren turned out.
We could even suggest that the way she mothered trickled down to her grandchildren’s generation and led to the Russian Revolution (her grandaugher Alix, who followed her heart and married Alexander and We See How That Turned Out).
Interesting. I never thought of Victoria as “brilliant.” Somehow I always thought of her as pretty obtuse and pigheaded.
She has her moments in the book! Worsley does a pretty good job of both showing the pigheadedness (and the racism of her empire – she does NOT spare a bit about her colonial imperialism) and all of her uglier qualities and her better ones.
What a fascinating book, Lisa. Thanks to your review for alerting me to it. It sounds like a great read.
I hope you enjoy it!