Next, people say she must choose a husband.

“From now on I wish to be known only by my second name, Victoria.” “I do not like the name Alexandrina,” she proclaims. She has very definite ideas about the kind of queen she wants to be, and the first thing is to choose her name.

The men who run the country have doubts about whether this sheltered young woman, who stands less than five feet tall, can rule the greatest nation in the world.ĭespite her age, however, the young queen is no puppet. It was hard for me to think of Queen Victoria as Victoria but Daisy pulled me in.ĭrawing on Queen Victoria’s diaries, which she first started reading when she was a student at Cambridge University, Daisy Goodwin―creator and writer of the new PBS/Masterpiece drama Victoria and author of the bestselling novels The American Heiress and The Fortune Hunter―brings the young nineteenth-century monarch, who would go on to reign for 63 years, richly to life in this magnificent novel.Įarly one morning, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday, Alexandrina Victoria is roused from bed with the news that her uncle William IV has died and she is now Queen of England. She made a wonderful novel that shows that everyone has growing up moments, even royals. Everyone thinks of Queen Victoria as old and frumpy but Daisy Goodwin was intrigued by the young queen she found in her diaries. Victoria, by Daisy Goodwin, is simply wonderful. I think royal historical fiction has to be my favorite. I am sure I have shared quite a few by now for everyone to read but I found a new one recently in a book campaign. This is an advertisement for SheSpeaks/St.

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin