Victoria

Queen Victoria, a woman of diminutive stature and superabundant temperament, gave her name to something more than an age. Using unrestricted access to material from the Royal Archives, including previously unpublished passages Queen Victoria's celebrated Journals, Elizabeth Longford's classic account remains the definitive biography of this extraordinary woman. She shows the queen tormented by an unhappy childhood; tantalised by an all-too-brief happy marriage; deeply shocked at the Prince Consort's death. She depicts the gradual emergence of the queen's renowned qualities, together with some surprising traits, presenting her in a fresh, affectionate and thoroughly human light. 'Dazzlingly readable, and very enjoyable' Stella Gibbons