Lytton Strachey´s ‘Queen Victoria’, appeared in 1921, is the definitive biography of Britain’s greatest monarch, who “was hailed at once as the mother of her people and as the embodied symbol of their imperial greatness.”
Originally written for an adult audience, ‘Queen Victoria’ is readily accessible to young adult readers. At slightly more than three hundred pages, it is relatively brief, but the most important aspects of Victoria’s reign, both personal and political, are adequately covered. Most Important for the young reader, not a dull page appears in the book. Strachey catches the reader’s attention with the first inverted-order sentence and holds it to the very last, lengthy one.
Although sympathetic to Victoria, Strachey points out the queen’s failings: her impulsiveness, her intractability, and her passionate and personal interest in politics. While she was not particularly intelligent, duty and responsibility were Victoria’s watchwords. Through Strachey’s narrative, the reader watches the young Victoria, full of gaiety and impetuosity, become the doting wife, then the somber widow, and finally a grandmotherly figure whose deficiencies are universally ignored.
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