Drawing on Queen Victoria’s diaries, which she first started reading when she was a student at Cambridge University, Daisy Goodwin --- creator and writer of the PBS Masterpiece drama "Victoria" and author of the bestselling novels THE AMERICAN HEIRESS and THE FORTUNE HUNTER --- brings the young 19th-century monarch, who would go on to reign for 63 years, richly to life in this magnificent novel.
Early one morning, less than a month after her 18th birthday, Alexandrina Victoria is roused from bed with the news that her uncle William IV has died and she is now Queen of England. The men who run the country have doubts about whether this sheltered young woman, who stands less than five feet tall, can rule the greatest nation in the world.
Despite her age, however, the young queen is no puppet. She has very definite ideas about the kind of queen she wants to be, and the first thing is to choose her name.
“I do not like the name Alexandrina,” she proclaims. “From now on I wish to be known only by my second name, Victoria.”
Next, people say she must choose a husband. Everyone keeps telling her she’s destined to marry her first cousin, Prince Albert, but Victoria found him dull and priggish when they met three years ago. She is quite happy being queen with the help of her prime minister, Lord Melbourne, who may be old enough to be her father but is the first person to take her seriously.
On June 19, 1837, she was a teenager. On June 20, 1837, she was a queen. Daisy Goodwin’s impeccably researched and vividly imagined new book brings readers Queen Victoria as they have never seen her before.
- Click here to read a review.
- Click here to read an excerpt.
- Click here to read Carol Fitzgerald's Bookreporter.com Bets On commentary.
- Visit Daisy Goodwin's website and YouTube channel.
- Connect with Daisy Goodwin on Facebook and Twitter.
Click here to enter the contest
by 11:59am ET on Tuesday, September 26th.
