Victoria : a life / A.N. Wilson.
Publication details: London : Atlantic Books, 2014.Description: xiv, 248 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits, genealogical tables ; 25 cmISBN:- 9781848879560 (hardback)
- 941.081092 23
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item reserves | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Melbourne Athenaeum Library | Biography | 941.081 WIL | Available | 058252 |
Queen Victoria died in 1901 and she had ruled for nearly sixty-four years. She was mother of nine and grandmother of forty-two, and the matriarch of Royal Europe, through the marriages of her children. To many, Queen Victoria is a ruler shrouded in myth and mystique - an aging, stiff widow, paraded as the figurehead to an all-male imperial enterprise. But in truth, Britain's longest reigning monarch was one of the most passionate, expressive, humorous and unconventional women who ever lived, and the story of her life continues to fascinate. This exhaustively researched and definitive biography includes a wealth of new material from previously unseen sources, to show us Queen Victoria as she has never been seen before. It explores the curious set of circumstances that led to Victoria's coronation, her strange and isolated childhood, her passionate marriage, Prince Albert's pivotal influence, her widowhood and subsequent intimate friendship with John Brown, set against the backdrop of this momentous epoch in British and European history. This is a towering achievement, a masterpiece of biography by a writer at the height of his powers.