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A review by harveymcfly
Becoming Queen by Kate Williams
4.0
This could have been a five rather than a 3.5 rounded to 4. The quality and depth of research and insights drawn for both Charlotte and Victoria made for very compelling reading. I was unfamiliar with Charlotte and only vaguely aware of the early life of Victoria and was quite delighted with what I learned. And grateful that I did not have any of their parents. It was an enjoyable read.
My major complaint was how it ended. It just sort of stopped. Rather than delve more into how the relationship between Albert and Victoria evolved and how Victoria changed we were just teased with the first couple of years of marriage. More importantly to me, we did not have any sense of how Victoria's earliest years and her persona in her marriage to Albert were connected to the Victoria of her long widowhood where so much of her legacy resides. The priggish Victoria whose next generation relatives brought us WWI were enormously affected by her as she was enormously affected by Albert and her emotional response to her widowhood.
Minor grip, occasionally the author uses modern aphorisms and references that don't add to the quality of the writing.
My major complaint was how it ended. It just sort of stopped. Rather than delve more into how the relationship between Albert and Victoria evolved and how Victoria changed we were just teased with the first couple of years of marriage. More importantly to me, we did not have any sense of how Victoria's earliest years and her persona in her marriage to Albert were connected to the Victoria of her long widowhood where so much of her legacy resides. The priggish Victoria whose next generation relatives brought us WWI were enormously affected by her as she was enormously affected by Albert and her emotional response to her widowhood.
Minor grip, occasionally the author uses modern aphorisms and references that don't add to the quality of the writing.