Lytton Strachey's acclaimed portrayal of Queen Victoria revolutionized
the art of biography by using elements of romantic fiction and melodrama
to create a warm, humorous, and very human portrait of this iconic
figure. We see Victoria as a strong-willed child with a famous temper,
as the 18-year-old girl queen, as a monarch, wife, mother, and widow.
Equally fascinating are the depictions of her relationships: with her
governess "precious Lehzen," with Peel, Gladstone, and Disraeli, with
her beloved Albert, and, in later life, her legendary devotion to her
Highland servant John Brown, all of which show a different side of the
staid, pious image that is so often attached to her.