Description

Lytton Strachey

His Queen Victoria was first published in 1921, and not only did it become a best-seller, it also set the art of biography writing on its ear. Rather than a formless recitation of facts, Strachey presented a sequence of vivid scenes as if writing a novel with Queen Victoria as the main character. With an elegant and lucid style, he chided the queen, yet sympathized with her, too, as he witnessed the repression of her childhood (dominated by her mother), her adoration for her husband Prince Albert, her relations with her prime ministers, and other major factors and influences in her life and reign. Queen Victoria is a classic, equally as vital reading now as when it was first published.