- Pre-order Price Guarantee! Order now and if the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you'll receive the lowest price. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Victoria: A Life
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
Flip to back
Flip to front
Victoria: A Life Hardcover – October 23, 2014
See all 2 formats and editions
Hide other formats and editions
| Amazon Price | New from | Used from |
|
Hardcover
"Please retry"
|
$25.55
|
$25.55 | — |
 |
$25.55
FREE Shipping on orders over $35.
This title will be released on October 23, 2014.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Gift-wrap available.
Special Offers and Product Promotions
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
Pre-order Victoria: A Life for your Kindle today.
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Want to know our Editors' picks for the best books of the month? Browse Best Books of the Month, featuring our favorite new books in more than a dozen categories.
Product Details
Would you like to give feedback on images?.
|
Editorial Reviews
Review
Financial Times:
“What to call [A. N. Wilson] now? “Eminent Victorianist” seems appropriate. Lytton Strachey, the acerbic author of Eminent Victorians as well as a biography of Victoria far less good than this, is never far away when Wilson writes about a period that, in several books, he has made very much his own... Wilson is an excellent history teacher. He orders and narrates the hugely complex socio-political events and party infighting of the 19th century with a rare clarity... Wilson sums up his feelings about Victoria in a single word: “Awe”. His own achievement, sustained by a lifetime’s scholarly fascination with the Victorian era, is also, in its way, awesome.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred):
“A shimmering portrait of a tempestuous monarch…[Wilson] lends a lively expertise to his portrayal of the forthright, formidable, still-enigmatic sovereign…During her long reign, Victoria had come to embody the experience of an entire age, overseeing great reform and the strengthening of ties between India and the British Empire. A robust, immensely entertaining portrait from a master biographer.”
Booklist (starred):
“Few if any previous biographers have viewed [Queen Victoria] as incisively and absorbingly as Wilson does in his lengthy but smoothly flowing treatment of the queen’s long life. The considerable detail he brings to his greatly balanced portrait not only strengthens his estimation of the significance of the queen in British governmental history but also successfully conveys for the general reader all the nuances of character that Wilson so carefully shares.”
Library Journal (starred):
“[A] comprehensive, highly accessible work…rooted in the complex political and international details of the era… Wilson is most successful in identifying and highlighting the monarch’s paradoxes: the contrasts between the ‘little woman in a bonnet’ and the queen who proudly controlled the British empire. Highly recommended for readers fascinated by the lives of notable individuals and British royalty.”
Publishers Weekly:
“More than a Victoria biography, Wilson skillfully weaves the vast narrative of the Victorian landscape.”
The Guardian (UK):
“Subtle, thoughtful…Wilson picks up the pieces and puts the jigsaw back together again, creating in the process a Victoria for our own times…[A] shimmering and rather wonderful biography.”
The Spectator (UK):
“Superb…The book that [Wilson] was born to write…Wilson clearly loves and admires his subject, but this is a critical biography—funny, insightful, original, and authoritative. At last Victoria has been rescued from her widow’s weeds.”
The Sunday Times (UK):
“A.N. Wilson brings his novelist’s perception and immense knowledge of the era to his effervescent biography of the tiny woman (4ft 11in) who ruled Britain for 61 years...This won’t be the last biography of Victoria but it is certainly the most interesting and original in a long time.”
The Times (UK):
"A.N. Wilson has written a sympathetic but by no means hagiographic biography of her that will probably overturn many people’s prejudiced conception of her... Wilson’s picture of her is a rounded one, with her vices and virtues."
The Evening Standard (UK):
“[A] splendid biography–this book is a gem: thoughtful, witty, insightful, striking a balance between political commentary and personal gossip ... As this terrific biography shows, there really was a human being behind the gloomy portraits.”
The Daily Telegraph (UK):
“As Hamlet is to actors, Victoria is to writers. The Queen Empress is the ultimate biographical challenge, a role to be taken on only at the apex of a literary career. Ninety-five years ago, the standard was set by Lytton Strachey’s lucid and moving Queen Victoria, but A. N. Wilson has now raised the bar…What a pity [Victoria] never met A. N. Wilson: she shines in his company…[An] expansive and victorious book.”
“What to call [A. N. Wilson] now? “Eminent Victorianist” seems appropriate. Lytton Strachey, the acerbic author of Eminent Victorians as well as a biography of Victoria far less good than this, is never far away when Wilson writes about a period that, in several books, he has made very much his own... Wilson is an excellent history teacher. He orders and narrates the hugely complex socio-political events and party infighting of the 19th century with a rare clarity... Wilson sums up his feelings about Victoria in a single word: “Awe”. His own achievement, sustained by a lifetime’s scholarly fascination with the Victorian era, is also, in its way, awesome.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred):
“A shimmering portrait of a tempestuous monarch…[Wilson] lends a lively expertise to his portrayal of the forthright, formidable, still-enigmatic sovereign…During her long reign, Victoria had come to embody the experience of an entire age, overseeing great reform and the strengthening of ties between India and the British Empire. A robust, immensely entertaining portrait from a master biographer.”
Booklist (starred):
“Few if any previous biographers have viewed [Queen Victoria] as incisively and absorbingly as Wilson does in his lengthy but smoothly flowing treatment of the queen’s long life. The considerable detail he brings to his greatly balanced portrait not only strengthens his estimation of the significance of the queen in British governmental history but also successfully conveys for the general reader all the nuances of character that Wilson so carefully shares.”
Library Journal (starred):
“[A] comprehensive, highly accessible work…rooted in the complex political and international details of the era… Wilson is most successful in identifying and highlighting the monarch’s paradoxes: the contrasts between the ‘little woman in a bonnet’ and the queen who proudly controlled the British empire. Highly recommended for readers fascinated by the lives of notable individuals and British royalty.”
Publishers Weekly:
“More than a Victoria biography, Wilson skillfully weaves the vast narrative of the Victorian landscape.”
The Guardian (UK):
“Subtle, thoughtful…Wilson picks up the pieces and puts the jigsaw back together again, creating in the process a Victoria for our own times…[A] shimmering and rather wonderful biography.”
The Spectator (UK):
“Superb…The book that [Wilson] was born to write…Wilson clearly loves and admires his subject, but this is a critical biography—funny, insightful, original, and authoritative. At last Victoria has been rescued from her widow’s weeds.”
The Sunday Times (UK):
“A.N. Wilson brings his novelist’s perception and immense knowledge of the era to his effervescent biography of the tiny woman (4ft 11in) who ruled Britain for 61 years...This won’t be the last biography of Victoria but it is certainly the most interesting and original in a long time.”
The Times (UK):
"A.N. Wilson has written a sympathetic but by no means hagiographic biography of her that will probably overturn many people’s prejudiced conception of her... Wilson’s picture of her is a rounded one, with her vices and virtues."
The Evening Standard (UK):
“[A] splendid biography–this book is a gem: thoughtful, witty, insightful, striking a balance between political commentary and personal gossip ... As this terrific biography shows, there really was a human being behind the gloomy portraits.”
The Daily Telegraph (UK):
“As Hamlet is to actors, Victoria is to writers. The Queen Empress is the ultimate biographical challenge, a role to be taken on only at the apex of a literary career. Ninety-five years ago, the standard was set by Lytton Strachey’s lucid and moving Queen Victoria, but A. N. Wilson has now raised the bar…What a pity [Victoria] never met A. N. Wilson: she shines in his company…[An] expansive and victorious book.”
About the Author
A. N. WILSON is the author of biographies on Jesus, Milton, Tolstoy, C. S. Lewis and Dante. His acclaimed histories, The Victorians and God’s Funeral, have made him an authority on Victorian-era Great Britain. A former columnist for the London Evening Standard, he now contributes to the Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, the Spectator, the Observer and the Daily Mail.
Customer Reviews
This item has not been released yet and is not eligible to be reviewed. Reviews shown are from Amazon Vine™ members.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By
Nancy Famolari
VINE VOICE on September 23, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
(
What's this?
)
Comment
Sending feedback...
Queen Victoria was a complex woman. One of the strengths of Wilson's biography is that through the use of her letters and journals he is able to show us the internal life of the Queen.
Victoria was married, presumably happily, to Prince Albert. They produced nine children, and his death left her prostrate. Albert was a strict Victorian husband treating Victoria often as a child and using severe methods to raise the children. Although Victoria loved Albert, her love for her children was less pronounced. Her relationship with her heir, Bertie, was particularly fraught with unpleasantness.
After Albert, she engaged in two relationships that could be described as scandalous. She spent many years with John Brown, Highland John, and may have been married to him, but if so the record or such an alliance has been destroyed. Her later relationship with Munshi, her Indian Secretary, paints the picture of a lonely old woman taken in by a successful conman. However, seeing Victoria in these three relationships makes her more of a real person.
The author is adept at bringing the political situation into the biography. He shows how Victoria both shaped events and was shaped by them. For me, this was the best part of the book.
I did learn some interesting things about Victoria's childhood. She believed that she had a lonely childhood, but using her journals, the author shows that she grew up with the stepbrother and stepsister, the children of her mother's first marriage.
This is a long book and the writing is often scholarly to the point of dryness. However, if you're interested in Queen Victoria or the Victorian Age, it's well worth reading.
Victoria was married, presumably happily, to Prince Albert. They produced nine children, and his death left her prostrate. Albert was a strict Victorian husband treating Victoria often as a child and using severe methods to raise the children. Although Victoria loved Albert, her love for her children was less pronounced. Her relationship with her heir, Bertie, was particularly fraught with unpleasantness.
After Albert, she engaged in two relationships that could be described as scandalous. She spent many years with John Brown, Highland John, and may have been married to him, but if so the record or such an alliance has been destroyed. Her later relationship with Munshi, her Indian Secretary, paints the picture of a lonely old woman taken in by a successful conman. However, seeing Victoria in these three relationships makes her more of a real person.
The author is adept at bringing the political situation into the biography. He shows how Victoria both shaped events and was shaped by them. For me, this was the best part of the book.
I did learn some interesting things about Victoria's childhood. She believed that she had a lonely childhood, but using her journals, the author shows that she grew up with the stepbrother and stepsister, the children of her mother's first marriage.
This is a long book and the writing is often scholarly to the point of dryness. However, if you're interested in Queen Victoria or the Victorian Age, it's well worth reading.
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By
Emily Glickman
VINE VOICE on September 24, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
(
What's this?
)
Comment
Sending feedback...
After having viewed television serials, movies, paintings, sculptures and stamps of Victoria, and having learned throughout my life about the Victorian age, it was a pleasure to tackle the newest biography of this seminal English Queen. Wilson's work covers all of Victoria's life, and educates the reader about all the important figures who shaped her. Using research materials not available to previous biographers, Wilson provides convincing arguments about Victoria's character, motivations, and actions, giving readers important insight and an absorbing escape into a colorful historical period.
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By
Agatha Christie
TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on October 8, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
(
What's this?
)
Comment
Sending feedback...
Reading this book seemed initially like a daunting task and one that I was ill prepared to take on. In order to keep this biography straight with a cast of characters that could populate a small country, I broke it down into small segments read over the course of several days.
The common perception of Victoria is that she was a disinterested monarch who had a large number of progeny whose sole duty was to marry other foreign royals and spread the Union Jack all over the globe all while behaving themselves and conducting themselves with some decorum. Victoria was also perceived as someone who took to her widow weeds when she wasn't sobbing in a darkened bedroom waiting to join her Prince Albert in eternal solitude.
Based on Victoria's own sideline as a copious letter writer and diarist, author A.N. Wilson may have finally broke through a wall of misinformation and finally set the record straight about Victoria as a queen, mother, friend, and even a lover.
I found this book to be very interesting because it portrayed Victoria as someone who took her position very seriously as she helped form public policy through her prime minister Disreali. Both she and her late husband had imperialistic visions for England and this was a driving force throughout her lifetime. Victoria could form strong opinions and also strong attachments, was frequently exasperated by her children and particularly her heir Prince Bertie, and was connected and involved with things going on both domestically and internationally. As for her storied relationship with John Brown, the author tends to put some credence to the gossip that they were definitely far more than friends.Read more ›
The common perception of Victoria is that she was a disinterested monarch who had a large number of progeny whose sole duty was to marry other foreign royals and spread the Union Jack all over the globe all while behaving themselves and conducting themselves with some decorum. Victoria was also perceived as someone who took to her widow weeds when she wasn't sobbing in a darkened bedroom waiting to join her Prince Albert in eternal solitude.
Based on Victoria's own sideline as a copious letter writer and diarist, author A.N. Wilson may have finally broke through a wall of misinformation and finally set the record straight about Victoria as a queen, mother, friend, and even a lover.
I found this book to be very interesting because it portrayed Victoria as someone who took her position very seriously as she helped form public policy through her prime minister Disreali. Both she and her late husband had imperialistic visions for England and this was a driving force throughout her lifetime. Victoria could form strong opinions and also strong attachments, was frequently exasperated by her children and particularly her heir Prince Bertie, and was connected and involved with things going on both domestically and internationally. As for her storied relationship with John Brown, the author tends to put some credence to the gossip that they were definitely far more than friends.Read more ›
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
By
Eugene Tenenbaum
VINE VOICE on September 13, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
(
What's this?
)
Comment
Sending feedback...
(Based on advance uncorrected proofs.) The Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901) - longest in British history - gave not only name to the era, but also to its morality shaping the contemporary attitudes. Her attitude of public facade of inaction masked the intense involvement in state affairs. Wilson - after gaining access to the Royal Archives - reveals also nuances of her immigrant insecurities, pregnancy hatred, and own life image creation and control. This is a tell all book, but not in the usual sense. The author's originality as a biographer lies in his focusing on the inner life of Queen Victoria rather than her day to day experiences. He paints a picture of largely lonely battles and victory against painful odds and demons. This might be the best modern biography of Queen Victoria. It should be good for those who are familiar with Queen Victoria and for those who are not.
However, unlike the prized Wilson's biography of Tolstoy, this biography does not (yet) include a chronology of Queen Victoria's life and times, a foreword, or details on the chapter title pages. Also, Wilson does not synthesize the content of sources and is a bit prolix in places here. E.g., the 1st paragraph introduces Thomas Carlyle and, subsequently, the French Revolution, as if he was needed to validate it. But, who cares about Thomas Carlyle walking or doing anything?! Is it possible that Wilson feels unappreciated and (subconsciously) projects his desire of a greater literary fame by putting his colleague on a pedestal and thus extolling their shared profession instead of relegating him to a footnote and focusing on the main subject in the 1st few sentences of the beginning that may be decisive for many whether to buy or not to buy (this book)?Read more ›
However, unlike the prized Wilson's biography of Tolstoy, this biography does not (yet) include a chronology of Queen Victoria's life and times, a foreword, or details on the chapter title pages. Also, Wilson does not synthesize the content of sources and is a bit prolix in places here. E.g., the 1st paragraph introduces Thomas Carlyle and, subsequently, the French Revolution, as if he was needed to validate it. But, who cares about Thomas Carlyle walking or doing anything?! Is it possible that Wilson feels unappreciated and (subconsciously) projects his desire of a greater literary fame by putting his colleague on a pedestal and thus extolling their shared profession instead of relegating him to a footnote and focusing on the main subject in the 1st few sentences of the beginning that may be decisive for many whether to buy or not to buy (this book)?Read more ›
Thank you for your feedback.
If this review is inappropriate, please let us know.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Most Recent Customer Reviews
