Queen Victoria : From Her Birth to the Death of the Prince Consort

Rating:
Summary: Well worth tracking down.
Review: The Victorian Era's literature filled my childhood, and its poets (along with the Romantics) remain my favorites. I picked up this biography knowing I would find it interesting, but I didn't anticipate reading it as I would a novel.

That's just what happened, though. The author achieves such readability (even, I would think, for those who don't share my interest in European history) by focusing on her subject as if Victoria were a fictional protagonist. While Woodham-Smith supplies the necessary level of detail and background, and demonstrates the solid research skills that make this a serious work, she never forgets that the reason most readers pick up this book is - Victoria! A monarch who was also girl and woman, daughter and sister, wife and mother, in an era when each of those roles conflicted wildly with the one that destiny called on her to play.

Long out of print, but well worth tracking down.