Book picks similar to
Dear Papa, Beloved Mama: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Victoria & Prince Albert as Parents (1840-1861) by Christina Croft
royals
victorian-era
biography
multi-royals
It's Always Summer Somewhere: A Matter of Life and Cricket
Felix White - 2021
His passion for the game is at the fore on the BBC 's number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, Tailenders, which he co-presents with Greg James and Jimmy Anderson. It's Always Summer Somewhere is his funny, heartbreaking and endlessly engaging love letter to the game.Felix takes us through his life growing up in South West London and describes how his story is forever punctuated and given meaning by cricket. Through his own exploits as a slow left arm spinner of 'lovely loopy stuff', to the tragic illness of his mother, life with The Maccabees and his cricket redemption, Felix touches on both the comedic and the tragic in equal measure. Throughout, there's the ever-present roller coaster of following the England cricket team. The exploits of Tufnell (another bowler of 'lovely loopy stuff'), Atherton, Hussain et al, are given extra import through the eyes of a cricket-obsessed youth. Felix meets them at each signposted moment to find out what was really behind those moments that gave cricket fans everywhere sporting memories that would last forever, sending the book into an exploration of grief, transgenerational displacement and how the people we've known and things we've loved culminate and take expression in our lives. It's Always Summer Somewhere is an incredibly honest detail of a life lived with cricket. It offers a sense of genuine empathy and understanding not just with cricket fans, but sports and music fans across the world, in articulating our reasons for pouring so much meaning into something that we simply cannot control.Culminating in the heart-stopping World Cup Final in 2019, the book finally answers that question fans have so often asked...what is it about this game?
Alcatraz from Inside
Jim Quillen - 1991
He thinks he made a lucky escape, until he is caught and sentenced to 45 years inside America's toughest prison, US Penitentiary Alcatraz Island.This is one man's true story of life inside America's most notorious prison, from terrifying times in solitary confinement to daily encounters with the "Birdman." An inspiring, moving, and dramatic tale.
Blue-Eyed Son
Nicky Campbell - 2004
His father – an ex-army man – and his mother helped him to a good school and a good university. Nicky rarely thought of his birth parents, until a combination of an imploding marriage and a chance meeting with a private detective led him to track his mother down. Nicky Campbell brilliantly recalls their reunion and tentative steps towards a relationship, evoking all the complex and deep-seated emotions that being reunited elicited in each of them. But as they talked it became clear that there was more to Nicky’s background than he expected. . . In this emotionally gripping and refreshingly honest memoir, Nicky Campbell describes the many sides of a family’s dark history, and how it feels to find out where you come from.
Eve Lloyd's A Deadline Cozy Mystery
Sonia Parin - 2017
Paying her aunt, Mira Lloyd, a.k.a. Elizabeth Lloyd, renowned historical romance author, a long overdue visit, she plans on spending a month on Rock-Maine Island lounging around and plotting the launch of her new life. Her ex-husband, however, has other ideas. As for her aunt… she’s gone missing. And now there’s a dead body to contend with and a murder weapon with her fingerprints on it. A mantle of suspicion hangs over Eve and everyone she encounters has a reason to want her out of the way. Unwilling to leave matters in the hands of swoon worthy Detective Jack Bradford… only because it’s her civic duty to provide a new perspective, Eve Lloyd engages the assistance of her new friend and fellow suspect, Jill Saunders. They both stumble their way through a long list of possible motives and suspects in a race to find the killer before either one turns into the next victim. Snuffed Out Eve Lloyd, a death knell? Eve refuses to believe her choice of words had something to do with inviting a killer to the island, but just to be on the safe side, she agrees to avoid all use of any and all words related to killing. However, it might already be too late… Her run in with a local artist, Reginald Bryant Burns, has put her in an awkward position. Trying to make amends, Eve resorts to bribery, but that only makes matters worse and now…She’s a prime suspect in a murder investigation. The timing couldn’t be worse. She has a date with Detective Jack Bradford and the killer is threatening to ruin it for her. All Tied Up It’s no accident. Eve Lloyd is a magnet for trouble. On the brink of settling into an uneventful existence, Eve Lloyd turns her attention to a new venture. She’s going to open an inn and she thinks she’s found the perfect house. It should all be smooth sailing from there, but she’s developed a knack for landing right in the thick of it. This time, she stumbles on a body in the least likely place and her fingerprints are all over the handcuffs found on the murder victim. As the suspects list grows, and the dream of running an inn evaporates, she becomes a target of the killer’s rage.Despite trying to keep her nose out of other people’s business, it seems the only way she can get her life back on track is if she sets a trap for the killer. The Last Bite Eve Lloyd’s childhood nemesis, Charlotte McLain, is getting married. Nothing will induce Eve to attend. Nothing except… blackmail.From the start, everything about this wedding rings alarm bells for Eve. The location, the groom, the guests. The bride. But that’s nothing unusual. The odds of everything going right are stacked in the bride’s favor. There have already been several deaths on the island. Lighting surely wouldn’t strike again…When the groom suddenly dies, all fingers of blame are pointed directly at Eve. After all, she had opportunity and plenty of motives.She’s been framed and despite trying to keep her nose out of trouble, she’s now been dragged right back into the thick of it. The list of suspects is extensive, but she’s sure she can narrow it down to… at least a half dozen people. The Final Cut “…What sort of business person would I be if I start killing off my guests?” Eve Lloyd has settled into her new life in Rock-Maine Island and is about to open up an inn - a costly venture now that she has her heart set on getting an expensive custom made stove.
Queen Victoria's Family: A Century of Photographs 1840-1940
Charlotte Zeepvat - 2001
A photograph album of Queen Victoria's family exploring the lives, personalities, tastes and contributions of the Queen, her children and her children's children through four generations.
Ambon: The truth about one of the most brutal POW camps in World War II and the triumph of the Aussie spirit (Hachette Military Collection)
Roger Maynard - 2014
Over a thousand of these soldiers were Australian. By the end of the war, just one-third of them had survived and Ambon became a place of nightmares, one of the most notorious of all POW camps the war had seen.Many of the men captured were massacred, and of those who initially survived, many later succumbed to the sadistic brutality of the Japanese guards. Starvation also took a fearful toll, and then there were the medical 'experiments'. It was a place almost without hope for those who held on, made worse by the fact that the savagery inflicted on them wasn't limited to their captors but also came from their own. One soldier described their hopelessness towards the end with the bleak words: 'The men knew they were dying.'Yet astoundingly there were survivors and in Ambon they speak of not just the horrors, but the bravery, endurance and mateship that got them through an ordeal almost impossible to imagine.The story of Ambon is one of both the depravity and the triumph of the human spirit; it is also one that's not been widely told. Until now.
Dave Matthews Band: Music for the People
Nevin Martell - 1999
Traces the evolution of the Dave Matthews Band, and describes their experiences on the road.
The Last Tsar Emperor Michael II
Donald Crawford - 2011
Michael, married to a double divorcee, Natasha, the daughter of a Moscow lawyer, was the first Romanov murdered by the Bolsheviks, five weeks before the other mass killings, and because he was the Romanov who posed the greatest threat to them. However, they never admitted responsibility for his murder, pretending instead that he had escaped. This book, based chiefly on original contemporary sources in Russia, tells you what the Soviet Union intended that you should never know. Does that matter now? Very much so, for unlike his brother Nicholas, Michael can serve as the bridge between today's Russia and Tsarist Russia, a gap which has yet to be closed. As Viktor Yevtukhov, appointed deputy Russian Minister of Justice in February 2011, has said: 'We should know more about this man and remember him, because this memory can give our society the ethical foundation we need'. This book will tell you why, after almost a century, that should be so. From the tragedy of the past, a hope for the future...
Victoria: A Life
A.N. Wilson - 2014
She was a mother of nine and grandmother of forty-two and the matriarch of royal Europe through her children’s marriages. To many, Queen Victoria is a ruler shrouded in myth and mystique, an aging, stiff widow paraded as the figurehead to an all-male imperial enterprise. But in truth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch was one of the most passionate, expressive, humorous and unconventional women who ever lived, and the story of her life continues to fascinate.A. N. Wilson's exhaustively researched and definitive biography includes a wealth of new material from previously unseen sources to show us Queen Victoria as she’s never been seen before. Wilson explores the curious set of circumstances that led to Victoria's coronation, her strange and isolated childhood, her passionate marriage to Prince Albert and his pivotal influence even after death and her widowhood and subsequent intimate friendship with her Highland servant John Brown, all set against the backdrop of this momentous epoch in Britain’s history — and the world’s.Born at the very moment of the expansion of British political and commercial power across the globe, Victoria went on to chart a unique course for her country even as she became the matriarch of nearly every great dynasty of Europe. Her destiny was thus interwoven with those of millions of people — not just in Europe but in the ever-expanding empire that Britain was becoming throughout the nineteenth century. The famed queen had a face that adorned postage stamps, banners, statues and busts all over the known world.Wilson's Victoria is a towering achievement, a masterpiece of biography by a writer at the height of his powers.
Taming the Thorn of Blackwell
Fanny Finch - 2021
But it was all worth it to protect her son’s heritage. Now though, she finds herself in need of a husband, but who would be brave enough to get close to the Thorn of Blackwell…?Joshua Beechworth is finally home and, as the Earl of Norfolk, he is expected to do business with the Blackwell estate. He finds that he is not at all worried about the Duchess’ formidable presence, on the contrary, he always liked a challenge…A simple business arrangement will end up entailing more than either of them expected…Clinging to the memory of her late husband, Selina hides behind the wall of thorns she has built around her heart, but Joshua may well be the only person capable of breaching her defenses.Although his heart may get stung in the process…
The Personal Life of Queen Victoria
Sarah A. Southall Tooley - 2015
First published in 1897 to coincide with Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, Tooley illustrates the woman behind the crown and empire. The writer moves seamlessly through the Queen’s life from her lonely childhood, to her intrepid early years as an unmarried queen, through the heady days of betrothal, the loving years of marriage and finally to her heart-wrenching life as a widow. Her home and court life are explored with anecdotes from those close to the Queen, creating a rare glimpse into the monarch’s personal tastes and characteristics. Praise for The Personal Life of Queen Victoria “The volume should meet the wishes of a large public in these days of diamond jubilees.” —
Times.
“The writer has been at great pains to collect her material, some of which is from new sources, and she has utilised the information to good purpose. Her style, which is clear and flowing, renders her book easy reading.” —
Globe.
“Altogether a very attractive personal biography.” —
Pall Mall Gazette.
“Mrs. Tooley, in addition to the ordinary sources of information, has been favoured with many special anecdotes and particulars of incidents in the Queen’s career. This gives her book a distinct value. It is very pleasantly written.” —
Westminster Gazette.
“In dealing with the personal side of the Queen’s life, as distinct from that aspect of it which has to do with Her Majesty’s public career, Mrs. Tooley has been enabled, apparently by persons moving in Court circles, to add largely to the store of pleasant anecdotes and incidents.” —
Scotsman.
“Written with fine taste and delicate reserve, the biography presents the Queen in such a manner as to enhance the affection with which all her subjects regard her..” —
Independent.
“An important addition to the many biographies that have been written about Her Majesty … Mrs. Tooley has accomplished her task in a manner which holds the reader’s attention from beginning to end.” —
Queen.
Billy Graham: The Man I Knew
Greg Laurie - 2021
But Very Few Knew Him Personally. Pastor and bestselling author Greg Laurie was one of those fortunate few, blessed with an insider’s view of Billy Graham’s world for more than two decades. With the same painstaking research and eye for detail that distinguishes his previous biographies, Steve McQueen: Salvation of an American Icon and Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon, Laurie now turns to the life of his beloved mentor, offering the intimate perspective of a disciple and friend. As a strapping North Carolina farm boy, Graham surrendered his life to Jesus at a camp meeting led by a blustery itinerant preacher, but he never lost the mischievous twinkle in his eye or his fun-loving air. Laurie sheds light on Graham’s lesser-known struggles—such as a broken heart before he met the love of his life and a crisis of faith from which he emerged stronger than ever. From the evangelist’s private challenges and public successes to his disappointments and joys, Billy Graham: The Man I Knew provides a vivid portrait of one of history’s most remarkable Christian lives.
The Runaway Children: The heartbreaking, page-turning new historical saga from Lindsey Hutchinson for 2022
Lindsey Hutchinson - 2022
In Love with the Rogue: Historical Regency Romance
Lisa Campell - 2021
Becoming Queen
Kate Williams - 2008
That, of course, is a matter of opinion. And there are other layers to the story.With a combination of novelistic flair and historical accuracy, Kate Williams begins by relating the heartbreaking story of Princess Charlotte, the Queen who never was, and her impact on the young Victoria. Our perception of Victoria the Queen is coloured by portraits of her older, widowed self - her dour expression embodying the repressive morality propagated in her time. But Becoming Queen reveals an energetic and vibrant woman, determined to battle for power. It also documents the Byzantine machinations behind Victoria's quest to occupy the throne, and shows how her struggles did not end when finally the crown was placed on her head.In the late eighteenth century, monarchies were in crisis across Europe. Discontented with their mad King, George III, and his spendthrift offspring, the English pinned their hopes on the only legitimate grandchild: Princess Charlotte, daughter of George, Prince of Wales. But Charlotte died at the age of twenty-two, a few hours after giving birth to a stillborn son. A grieving nation immediately began venerating her as someone who would have made an ideal Queen while Charlotte's rackety uncles embarked on a race to produce the next heir.No one thought that little Victoria, daughter of the Duke of Kent, would ascend the throne. She, in turn, became increasingly determined to take control of her own destiny, and clashed constantly not only with her hugely ambitious mother but with her protégé and household comptroller, the Irish adventurer, John Conroy. After she became Queen, ministers, even her beloved Prince Albert, still attempted to steal power away from her.Revealing how Charlotte's death shaped Victoria's reign and laying bare the passions that swirled around the throne, Becoming Queen is an absorbingly dramatic tale of secrets, sexual repression and endless conflict. After her lauded biography of Emma Hamilton, England's Mistress, Kate Williams has produced a most original and intimate portrait of Great Britain's longest reigning monarch.