Her inevitable marriage is another threat to her independence, until she meets Prince Albert and falls in love. Stifled by a controlling mother and placed in the center of a power struggle between that mother and King William, Victoria longs for the day when she can be her own woman. 12 & up), Meyer ably reconstructs Queen Victoria's childhood in this mild historical novel, in which a young princess struggles to reconcile her desires with her place in history. The author does not enhance or alter the history she simply and convincingly translates it into a lively narrative. As it turns out, though Victoria's early life was stifling to her, it comes across as an engrossing tale. Although written entirely from Victoria's viewpoint aside from a few brief letters, it conveys the young queen's inappropriate political biases, her initial reluctance to marry and her terrible temper. The story follows Victoria from childhood and adolescence through the births of her first three children.
Basing the story on Victoria's diaries, Meyer writes convincingly as the young princess and queen, imitating the girl's writing style but keeping the narration accessible to modern readers. When 18-year-old Victoria is crowned, she banishes Conroy and assumes control of her life, but not without some hiccups. After her half sister marries and moves to Germany, her former governess remains as her only private confidant. Kept under observation virtually all the time, young Victoria struggles to escape total domination. Readers meet Victoria at age 8, growing up under the strict supervision of her mother, a woman completely under the influence of one Sir John Conroy, a man so ambitious he schemes to rule England through Victoria.
This absorbing, fictionalized first-person account of Queen Victoria's early life reveals the hardships she endured as a child and young woman.
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