Queen Victoria
A Life of Contradictions
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
A fresh, witty, accessible life of Queen Victoria. Not since Lytton Strachey has the irony, contradictions and influence of this Queen been treated with such flourish or biographical insight.
'Queen Victoria had a very complicated and psychologically fascinating personality and only a very talented biographer could get to the key of her character. Fortunately in Matthew Dennison's pithy, well-researched, beautifully written and very accessible book, she has found one' Andrew Roberts
Queen Victoria is Britain’s queen of contradictions. In her combination of deep sentimentality and bombast; cultural imperialism and imperial compassion; fear of intellectualism and excitement at technology; romanticism and prudishness, she became a spirit of the age to which she gave her name.
Victoria embraced photography, railway travel and modern art; she resisted compulsory education for the working classes, recommended for a leading women’s rights campaigner ‘a good whipping’ and detested smoking. She may or may not have been amused.
Meanwhile she reinvented the monarchy and wrestled with personal reinvention. She lived in the shadow of her mother and then under the tutelage of her husband; finally she embraced self-reliance during her long widowhood. Fresh, witty and accessible, Queen Victoria is a compelling assessment of Victoria’s mercurial character and impact, written with the irony, flourish and insight that this Queen and her rule so richly deserve.
Reviews
‘Sometimes caustic about her stubbornness and passions, often admiring of her frankness and honesty, Dennison's Queen Victoria sweeps us through the monarch's long and colourful life at a collected canter. He draws on imagery of her reign, including portraits of her with John Brown, to startlingly good effect, making us see with new eyes the lone young queen, later the Widow of Windsor and, in a final role, Grandmama of Europe’ Flora Fraser
'Matthew Dennison has pulled off a tremendous coup in writing a short and concise book, encapsulating Victoria's life in 152 small pages. Short books can sometimes be superficial overviews, but this one has the confidence of considerable research, well digested and well delivered… For anyone approaching Queen Victoria for the first time, this is perfect' Hugo Vickers, Times
'This illuminating book gives us Victoria in deliberately bite-sized chunks … Dennison's dry wit and concise analysis bring new life to a monarch we all thought we knew' Daily Express
'In elegant, eloquent prose, Matthew Dennison has written a close-focus and perceptive account of a complex woman' Country Life
'This delightful book reveals Victoria's capricious and wilful character with well-tempered admiration … Dennison shows Victoria as a complex individual, awash with sentimentality but constantly aware of the power of monarchy; devoted and submissive as a wife yet bombastic and stubborn. Intelligent, pithy and well-researched, this book offers an insight into the woman who became the figurehead of Britain at her best. A refreshing history' The Field
‘One is left breathless with admiration for the great Queen’ The Tablet
‘[Matthew Dennison] has done an adroit and incisive job of tying together Victoria’s many loose ends’ Spectator
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this brief yet thorough work, bestselling biographer Dennison (The Last Princess) examines the life of Britain's longest reigning and arguably best-known royal. The contradictions in Victoria's life are plentiful, particularly how her own emotional personality clashed with the accepted norms of the era she ruled and which bears her name. As Dennison notes, "Her education had been shaped by precepts which would become a mania as the century advanced: the importance of regulating the passions, securing morality and establishing a sound religion.' " He also focuses heavily on the queen's relationship with her husband, Prince Albert. Through the pair's combined history, Dennison constructs a remarkable portrait of the queen. Victoria was enamored with Albert from the moment they met, but she was a stubborn woman and initially kept him out of her decision making. Albert proved himself resourceful, however, eventually mentoring his wife during political and military affairs, and she mourned his death the last 40 years of her life. Despite the book's brevity, it may take readers some time to grow accustomed to Dennison's language; his syntax and diction can prove frustrating at first, though he does find his rhythm. Readers' confidence in Dennison will also grow as he illuminates the tribulations in the royal life of "the Grandmama of Europe."
