Victoria: The Queen (Baird) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Victoria the Queen, Julia Baird’s exquisitely wrought and meticulously researched biography, brushes the dusty myth off this extraordinary monarch. Right out of the gate, the book thrums with authority as Baird builds her portrayal of Victoria. Overturning stereotypes, she rips this queen down to the studs and creates her anew. . . . Baird’s Victoria isn’t the woman we expect to meet. Her queen is a pure iconoclast: emotional, demonstrative, sexual and driven. . . . Baird writes in the round. She constructs a dynamic historical figure, then spins out a spherical world of elegant reference, anchoring the narrative in specific detail and pinning down complex swaths of history that, in less capable hands, would simply blow away (Editor’s Choice).
New York Times Book Review


Victoria: The Queen is that rare bird of serious historical biography, a page-turner. Writing with grace and authority, Baird reaches well beyond the conventional image of a reclusive and compliant queen to reveal “a robust and interventionist ruler,” iron-willed, uncompromising and sexually charged—a most unvictorian woman. . . . As a writer and historian, Baird has a wonderful gift for compressing complicated personalities and historical events.
Dallas Morning News


In this in-depth look at a feminist before her time, you’ll balk at, cheer on, and mourn the obstacles in the life of the teen queen who grew into her throne.
Marie Claire


Victoria’s rich personal life makes for interesting reading, but Baird’s attempts to trace the beginnings of the suffrage and anti-slavery movements to the values embodied in Victoria’s reign are unconvincing.... Baird’s empathy for her subject is apparent throughout, however, and...she imbues the chilly figure of Victoria with welcome humor and warmth.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Baird convincingly reframes the public perception of Victoria as a mother, along with providing unprecedented insight into her relationships following Prince Albert’s death.... Baird crafts a comprehensive study of the monarch and others with whom she was involved in an engaging, smoothly rendered narrative.... [An] excellent biography.
Library Journal


(Starred review.) Baird writes with such spirit and well-founded authority that readers will feel as though the story of the famous British queen is being told for the first time. . . . Baird does not turn a blind eye on Victoria’s darker sides, including her willfulness, selfishness, and self pity. But that simply adds dimensions to a significant character.
Booklist


Baird draws on previously unpublished sources to fashion a lively, perceptive portrait of the long-reigning queen.... Baird shrewdly assesses the quality of the queen’s family life and creates sharply drawn portraits of the major players in her circle.... A well-researched biography sensitive to Queen Victoria as a woman.
Kirkus Reviews