This was a fascinating read. Queen Victoria was so interesting. I liked the chapter breakdowns. She lead an eventful, long life.

If you enjoy English history, and the age of Victoria, this is one that is worth reading. Victoria was quite an enigma of her time, and this was a great insight into this period of her life. While I have read several books by Lucy Worsley, I didn't feel as though this was her best work.

I always love reading about Queen Victoria, even if it's information I already know. Worsley does such a good job presenting information in a new way to keep it fresh.

I'm not a particular fan of Queen Victoria and have never deliberately sought information on her, but I do like Lucy Worsley. I have watched many of her documentaries and she seems to be able to find the humanity in history that makes it so compelling to readers and viewers.
This book, while concentrating on particular events in Victoria's life, sheds some light on the type of person she was, and how being the Queen as well as a daughter, mother and wife, challenged and changed her.
A very interesting and revealing peek into the life of a complex and powerful woman, and a great read. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy Worsley makes history come alive in an entertaining way, and at the same time researches and studies her topic so extensively that she presents well documented facts. This is a hard balance for many historians. But Ms. Worsley is more than a historian and she is a master at her profession. She is also a curator, an author, and a TV presenter for BBC with whom she has produced some fascinating shows some of which have been shown on American television on PBS. Perhaps you have seen some of them! Some of the topics are: Victoria and Albert : The Wedding, Secrets of the Six Wives, Tales From the Royal Bedchamber, and Tales From the Royal Wardrobe.

Perhaps you have also seen the excellent series shown on PBS for two seasons entitled Victoria which focuses so far on a young Queen Victoria and that has piqued your interest in learning more about her life.

If so, then I highly recommend that you read Lucy Worsley’s well documented biography published this year entitled: Queen Victoria: Twenty Four Days That Changed Her Life.

This excerpt from the preface of the book explains Worsley’s raison d’etra for writing it:

“Like many kids, I grew up believing that the queen was, for some unknown reason, in mourning her whole life long. The most powerful, memorable images of Victoria show her as a little old lady, potato-like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black.

In recent years, there have been many attempts in popular culture–for example, the cinema film Young Victoria, or the television series Victoria–to overturn this funereal image. The big and small screens have both shown us a less decorous, more passionate, young princess who loved dancing.

We seem to have ended up with two Victorias, bearing no clear relationship to each other. How did she go from dancing princess to potato? That’s a tale worth telling, but in this book I also want to present a third Victoria. The little old lady, sullen in expression, gloomy in dress, proved to be a remarkably successful queen, one who invented a new role for the monarchy. She found a way of being a respected sovereign in an age when people were deeply uncomfortable with having a woman on the throne.”

In this book, Worsley recreates twenty four of the most important days of Victoria’s long life. Days like the day she became queen at only 18 years of age, the date she married Albert the love of her life, a day during the Crimean War (during which she was brilliant), a day she was visited by Florence Nightingale, the day Albert died at a sadly young age, and the day Victoria herself died decades later. And Worsley documents them with excellent and myriad sources.

Worsley, as all historians, does pick and choose the parts of history she presents. No matter how well documented a history book is, the historian presents their topic from the slant or perspective they choose. Worsley’s interesting perspective to me is that she paints Albert in a rather unbecoming light. This is totally counter to anything I have ever seen or read in accounts of the couple. She is entitled to her professional opinion, although, I still see Albert as an amazing blessing to Victoria and the British people from all of the extensive history I have read on this subject.

I learned things I never knew before from this book.

Here is a good link about the book that Worsley herself posted about the day Victoria became queen among other things:

http://www.thehistoryreader.com/modern-history/queen-victoria-twenty-four-days-that-changed-her-life/

To give you a feel for the writing here are two excerpts from the book:

A portion of the book about the Crimean War:

“Yet this war, however mis-fought, would bring about a change for the better in the way Victoria ruled. It also illustrated the essential difference between her way of doing things and Albert’s. His contribution to the war effort lies in no fewer than fifty bound volumes of correspondence. Training his intellect upon the problem, he compiled detailed plans for drumming up a foreign force to help the British.9 His plans were rejected, and once they got out, he was pilloried in the press and even accused of treason. Victoria, on the other hand, brought her emotional intelligence to bear. As someone who felt, and suffered, and who could share other people’s pain, she revealed herself to be a gifted leader in a way that eluded Albert. It was a ‘relief ’ to write letters of condolence to the parents of the fallen, she explained, as she now so often did, because it allowed her to express ‘all that she felt.’10 In the crisis of the war, through consoling, and rebuilding confidence, Victoria began to show what she might be capable of as a queen. By seeing off her soldiers, receiving the wounded, and publically praising and giving gifts to the troops, she emerged more popular than ever. She managed to make a nation feel that she cared.”

From the day Albert died:

“By this point, in the late evening, Victoria was in the Red Room next door, where she ‘sat down on the floor in utter despair.’68 But Alice was still at her post, and noticed a new rasping note in her father’s throat. ‘That is the death rattle,’ she whispered.69 It was essential to call Victoria back in. She was there at once. She ‘started up like a Lioness,’ wrote one of her ladies, ‘rushed by every one, and bounded on the bed imploring him to speak and to give one kiss to his little wife.’70

Then, as Victoria tells us, two or three long but perfectly gentle breaths were drawn, the hand clasping mine and (oh! It makes me sick to write it) all, all, was over . . . I stood up, kissed his dear heavenly forehead & called out in a bitter & agonising cry ‘Oh! my dear Darling!’ and then dropped on my knees in mute distracted despair, unable to utter a word or shed a tear!71]
‘Oh yes,’ people heard her say. ‘This is death. I know it. I have seen this before.’

Now other people have to take up her story. In the gloomy Blue Room everyone knelt down on the floor: the queen and her elder children, ‘the Leiningens, Phipps, Grey, Biddulph, Robert, the Dean, the Duchess, Miss Hildyard and I,’ wrote Lady Augusta Bruce. They all watched ‘in agonised silence, the passing of that lofty and noble soul.’72 They had to experience the harrowing sight of Victoria falling upon Albert’s body and calling him ‘by every endearing name.’73 She was seen ‘throwing herself with both her arms extended on the corpse.’ She ‘almost screamed Oh! Duchess! he is dead! he is dead! Oh! Albert! and gave way to a fearful but short paroxysm of agony.’74

Victoria stayed there for some time, clasping Albert’s body, and refusing to let go. Finally, ‘it was thought better by the Dean and one of the Physicians to remove her by force’ and to take her next door.75 Her pharmacist had earlier provided four stoppered bottles of smelling salts.76 Victoria now lay on the Red Room’s sofa, and gathered her children round her, hugging them, and telling them ‘she would endeavour, if she lived, to live for them and her duty.’77 Even Bertie was pitifully contrite. ‘Mama I will be all I can to you,’ he said.78

Then Victoria went to see her sleeping baby Beatrice. Her dresser, Annie MacDonald, a witness to so much of the queen’s private life, said later that ‘it was an awful time–an awful time. I shall never forget it. After the Prince was dead, the Queen ran through the ante-room where I was waiting. She seemed wild. She went straight up to the nursery and took Baby Beatrice out of bed . . . she cried for days. It was heart-breaking to hear her.’79 As she went along the passage, Victoria was heard calling ‘Oh! Albert, Albert! are you gone!’80

Only very late at night did Victoria give her intimate staff permission to undress her. ‘Oh, what a sight it was’, wrote one of them, ‘to gaze upon her hopeless, helpless face, and see those most appealing eyes lifted up.’81 Victoria herself later recalled how her maids, Sophie Weiss, Emilie Dittweiler and Mary Andrews, ‘strove kindly to soothe her,’ while Lady Augusta Bruce helped her into bed.82 There she did at last have ‘two hours of good sound sleep–worn out, I suppose, with tears and anxiety.’83 From this night on, Victoria would still always sleep with Albert in the form of his clothes: ‘his dear red dressing-gown beside her and some of his clothes on the bed.’84”

I highly recommend this biography and thank the publisher St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy and for allowing me to review this book.

I was excited to get my hands on this book and to learn more about Queen Victoria. I've been watching the British television show on Masterpiece Theatre and enjoying it, but I wanted to know of her life more intimately, if possible. I did learn some things that the show had not shown at the time of me reading the book and that was her relationship with Bertie and Albert. Things were not all roses in her marriage with Albert and people undermined her all the time in thinking she was losing her mind. That would be a scary situation to be in. All in all I was glad I read the book. However, I didn't learn any new information. I was shocked that the last 20-25% of the book was source material.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the eArc to review.

Popular TV historian Dr. Lucy Worsley once again proves her popularity is well deserved with this delightful biography of Queen Victoria.  But this book is different from any other you may have read about Victoria in that it takes an in-depth look at twenty-four specific days in the Queen’s life which were the most auspicious, from her birth to her death.

Those who read My Name is Victoria, Worsley’s fictionalization for young readers of Victoria – and Victoria Conroy’s – lives last year know how much research she has put into the life of the Queen, and in this volume it spills out, bright and lively and incredibly fascinating.  There’s a sixty-four page bibliography and ten more of references, and every page of the book reflects the high quality of that research.

There are a few interesting new facts turned up along the way. Perhaps, Worsley posits through evidence, Victoria and Albert’s marriage was no paradise of perfect harmony, but was in fact a union of two human beings who were flawed and whose marriage had its bruises, lumps and errors.  The material about Victoria and Albert’s many children and the semi-happy lives they endured or enjoyed are well known, but in all instances, Victoria - spirited and determined, assertive and brilliant, and then determined to give her life to the theater of royal living – bounces from the page, true and genuine.  She is reflected in her gentle moments, her acidic moments - she is captured remarking upon her daughter-in-law Princess Alix: “are you aware that Alix has the smallest brain ever seen?” – and those of frantic tenderness, such as when, unable to let go of her daughter, Beatrice, who desperately wants to marry and be away from her mother’s shadow, Victoria tortures herself thinking of Beatrice being defiled upon the marriage bed and the wedding is eventually conducted beneath the black buntings of mourning and an enormous portrait of Albert.

Worsley does a deep dive into every moment of these important days – we learn right down to the last detail what the queen wore and what she ate.  But sometimes this indulgence doesn’t feel necessary to the narrative, which can make the process of reading it lugubriously arduous.

Yet the overall effect is fascinating enough to keep the reader going. From Victoria’s colonial Africa, to Albert’s deathbed, to her own, Lucy Worsley produces an effortlessly readable and solid portrait.  Queen Victoria: Twenty Four Days that Changed Her Life is an eminently readable piece of work that keeps the viewer excited and engaged right to the last moment.

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Worsley is one of my favorite historians because of her incredible knowledge of her subjects and her way of making even the most mundane information fascinating with her wit and candor. That is a rare gift. This book is no exception. The reader is given a better sense of Victoria;s world as a whole through each of these individual days.. The best thing is that by dividing the book into the 24 days, it is more of a collection of essays than the typical history so even someone with a passing interest in Queen Victoria but doesn't especially care for reading non-fiction would enjoy it.

I've long wanted to read one of Lucy Worsley's books, so I'm thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read and review this one.

As the title suggests, this book takes you into 24 days that shaped and influenced QV's life and reign. Although it seems very straight forward, Worsley is careful to include relevant background and events to streamline the narrative. In that regard, I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was very well done.

I've always been curious about Queen Victoria, but knew very little about her. This ended up being the perfect way to get additional information without having to read a dense biography that included every detail about her life. I often feel bored with biographies, and thus barely read them, but this kept my attention throughout. If I was bored by a certain "day" (ie chapter), I knew that another one was right around the corner. I appreciated this format so much that I think Worsley and/or the publisher should turn it into a series, with other notable figures.

Lucy Worley has been one of my favorite historians ever since I watched her show on PBS. This latest novel was about 24 days that impacted Queen Victoria’s life. The novel was well-written and very comprehensive, especially to those who do not know much about Queen Victoria. There were some days that in Queen Victoria’s life that I thought were important and should be included in the novel. Still, this is a must for those interested in the queen’s life.

Queen Victoria has always been a source of fascination for me. When I saw Lucy Worsley (whom I have watched many of her shows and listened to podcasts) had written a new book about her I was excited to receive a copy. The material was interesting, and mostly new, to me. Unfortunately, I felt that the material was presented in a fairly dry way that made it a bit hard for me to read.

When I started reading this I assumed this would chronicle 24 days, or approximately a month that influenced and had an impact on Victoria's life. This is not the case.
The book starts with the marriage of her parents and follows the course of Victoria's life and reign.

I have read quite a bit about Queen Victoria, more about the Romanovs and even more about the Tudors, and unfortunately this one may be among my least favorite. It did not really tell much.
Maybe because the Romanovs and Tudors were obviously high drama, and Victoria was not... I guess this is why I was hoping for an actual 24 day period where something big happened.

Just not what I was expecting, but well written.

Thank you to NetGallley, St. Martin's Press and Lucy Worsley for the ARC to review. I love historical literature, and am a big fan of Queen Victoria. I am also a fan of Lucy Worsley. She has some fabulous historical features on PBS. Most books I have read on Queen Victoria, only take you up to Prince Albert's death. However, I found this more interesting as to what she was like after Albert's death. I have heard of John Brown and Abdul Karim, but this book gave me more insight to who they were and what they meant to Queen Victoria. It showed the love for her children and how she cared for them. It is not written in the style of a story, yet as significant, days or periods in her life. I really enjoyed it, and look for to seeing Lucy Worsley on PBS and in print.

As a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy I shall give an honest review of Lucy Worsley’s Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life. After reading Daisy Goodwin’s VICTORIA, which she based her television series on, I was hooked to the life and time in which Queen Victoria lived. What an extraordinary life she lived, I loved Worsley’s ability to examine the Queen but also reveal the underlying experiences of Victoria as a woman ahead of her time. The biography explores her many roles ex. daughter, wife, and widow. Throughout the biography, I enjoyed Worsley’s ability to present information from many historians but also present her conclusions as well. These made the book more tangible and something that kept me reading. One area I found of interest was Victoria’s identity as a widow following the death of Prince Albert. Worsley addresses the current examination in which historians are examining Queen Victoria and present their conclusions as well as her own. I found this made her assumptions more factual and often left you at your own devices developing who Victoria was. The text is academic yet approachable for those that are familiar to Queen Victoria’s story. I enjoyed Worsley’s Jane Austen at Home and enjoyed the personable yet academic approach to Austen’s life. To differentiate biographies and women their biographies are worlds apart and are worth reading. If you have not read a biography on Queen Victoria or seen a film adaptation based on her life then this is not a place to start. The many facts and occurrences serve to those who need more than an elementary approach to the life of Queen Elizabeth. I recommend this for those who are interested in Queen Victoria, the Victorian era, and would like a thorough look into the many roles she played in her life. I give this book a solid four out of five stars on Goodreads.

This is a broad look at the whole of Queen Victoria’s life divided into twenty four periods such as her parent’s wedding day, childhood , meeting Albert, their marriage, birth of her first born, the death of Albert and the loneliness that followed, her reign and despair, and companionship with two other men. With all the movies and television series on Queen Victoria, this is a great companion to add some more details.

This is a great read Lucy Worsley takes 24 days that shaped Queen Victoria's life and expands on their significance. Very thorough and we'll researched it was a joy to read and I can't wait to read more from this author

I absolutely loved this book. Lucy Worsley writes in a way that is easy to understand and visualize. I felt as though I was watching Queen Victoria in these moments. I have seen documentaries from Lucy Worsley and I just love her energy and enthusiasm for history. If you have ever had an interest in learning more about the life of Queen Victoria, pick this book up. You won't regret it. I can't wait to read the next book from Lucy Worsley.

I love Lucy Worsley. I love reading her books, I love watching her specials on television. She knows how to bring history to life. This book is engaging and well written. The reader is able to see many different sides of Victoria. This is an incredible book that is a MUST for anyone who loves British history.

I just finished Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley and I give it 5 stars. I first discovered Worsley through a documentary about the Russian Tsars and absolutely loved her presentation style, so when I saw that she wrote a book about Victoria I instantly had to request it! I admit, I approached this with a little trepidation, because biographies sometimes drone on. Trust me when I tell you, this one does not. It is well-written in almost a conversation-style rather than textbook. The concept of it being 24 separate days over her life, instead of 24 days in a row was fascinating to me. I found that she picked really important days that were able to cover many subjects over Victoria’s life. I will definitely seek out more books by Worsley, and if you enjoy learning about Victoria, you’ll definitely want to read this!

This biography was well researched and contained a lot of information that I hadn’t previously read in other books. The author’s attention to detail is evident in the writing. Highly recommend!