Victoria

Description

From the creator of the TV Sunday night drama, VICTORIA, comes the exclusive standalone novel by Daisy Goodwin, author of the bestselling MY LAST DUCHESS and THE FORTUNE HUNTER. Perfect for fans of epics such as War and Peace, Poldark or Granchester. In June 1837, the eighteen-year-old Victoria wakes up to find that she is Queen of the most powerful nation in the world. But will she be queen in her own right, or a puppet controlled by her mother and the sinister Sir John Conroy? Can this tiny girl prevail against the men who believe that women are too hysterical to rule? Everyone wants her to get married, but Victoria has no intention of entering into a marriage of convenience with her cousin Albert, a shy bookworm who didn't know how to dance the last time she met him. She would much rather reign alone with a little help from her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. He may be old enough to be her father, but he is the only man who believes that she will be a great Queen, and he knows how to make her laugh. A husband would only get in the way...

Daisy Goodwin's work as a TV producer and presenter includes Reader I Married Him, Bookworm and The Nation's Favourite Poems; she is also the creator of Grand Designs and wrote the script for ITVs Victoria . She has edited numerous poetry anthologies, including the bestselling 101 Poems That Could Save Your Life, and is the author of Silver River, a memoir as well as two novels, My Last Duchess and The Fortune Hunter. Goodwin reviews regularly for the Times and Sunday Times and writes a bibliotherapy column for the Daily Mail.

The research is impeccable, the attention to detail perfect, and it brings the formidable figure of Victoria to sparkling life - Sunday Mirror Meticulously researched and vividly told, it is a perfect winter romp - Mail on Sunday Goodwin demonstrates her ability to fuse knowledge of the period with lively storytelling - The Sunday Times Goodwin manages to create suspense, by imagining Victoria's inner life as revealed in her letters and diaries, and doing full justice to the spirit and independence that made her one ofour greatest monarchs - The Times