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Victoria: The Woman who Made the Modern World Audiobook
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Publisher Description
The extraordinary story of the world's most influential, intriguing and surprising ruler, Queen Victoria.
When Alexandrina Victoria was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 20 June 1837, she was 18 years old and barely five feet tall. Her subjects were fascinated and intrigued; some felt sorry for her. Writer Thomas Carlyle, watching her gilded coach draw away from the coronation, said: 'Poor little Queen, she is at an age at which a girl can hardly be trusted to choose a bonnet for herself; yet a task is laid upon her from which an archangel might shrink.'
Queen Victoria is long dead, but in truth she has shaped us from the grave. She was a tiny, powerful woman who reigned for an astonishing 64 years. By the time of her Diamond Jubilee Procession in 1897, she reigned over a fourth of the inhabitable part of the world, had 400 million subjects, and had given birth to nine children. Suffrage, anti-poverty and anti-slavery movements can all be traced to her monumental reign, along with a profound rethinking of family life and the rise of religious doubt. When she died, in 1901, she was the longest reigning monarch in English history. Victoria is truly the woman who made the modern world.
A fascinating, provocative and authoritative new biography of Queen Victoria which will make us see her in a new light, from one of Australia's most admired and respected journalists and commentators, Julia Baird.
'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.' The New York Times
Shortlisted for the 2017 ABIA Awards and the 2017 NSW Premiers History Awards, longlisted for the 2017 Stella Awards and the 2017 Walkley Awards.
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“With impeccable phrasing and a voice rich with the style and color of nineteenth-century England, narrator Lucy Rayner captures the essence of Queen Victoria…Rayner creates mystery and intrigue with her performance of Victoria’s mother…Rayner captures Victoria’s personality and emotions so well that listeners come to know her and Albert, her beloved prince, throughout her reign until his untimely death. Rayner also breathes life into the widowed Victoria, who reigned for forty years in mourning and still continued to amaze and shock her subjects. A bravura performance! Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“Rayner’s narration is a perfect match for the sprightly text. She breathes life into each of the myriad characters and personalities that populate Victoria’s life and court…Rayner’s interpretation of Queen Victoria over the course of her long life is enchanting. Listeners can hear the subtle changes she makes to capture Victoria’s seemingly dual personalities, that of strong-willed monarch and submissive wife, as well as the toll her long life and many disappointments took upon her. Highly recommended.”
— Booklist (audio review) -
“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.”
— New York Times -
“Fascinating.”
— Vogue -
“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
Awards
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A Booklist Top 10 of Biographies on Audio
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Shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Award
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An Esquire Magazine Best Book of the Year selection
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A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best selection
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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About Julia Baird
Julia Baird is a journalist, broadcaster, and author based in Sydney, Australia. Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Guardian, the Good Weekend, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Sun-Herald, the Monthly, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has a PhD in history from the University of Sydney, and in 2005, she was a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University.