{"product_id":"9780062269928","title":"Serving Victoria : Life in the Royal Household","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eServing Victoria\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Kate Hubbard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on the letters and diaries of six members of Queen Victoria's household, \u003cem\u003eServing Victoria\u003c\/em\u003e offers unique insight into the queen and her court. Seen through the eyes of her servants—including the governess to the royal children, her maid of honor, her chaplain, and her personal physician—Victoria emerges as more vulnerable, more emotional, more selfish, more comical than the austere figure depicted in her portraits.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe see a woman prone to fits of giggles, who wept easily and often, who shrank from confrontation yet insisted on controlling the lives of those around her. We witness her extraordinary and debilitating grief at the death of her husband, Albert, and her sympathy toward the tragedies that afflicted her household.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA perfect foil to the pomp and circumstance, prudery and conservatism that has become synonymous with Victoria's reign, \u003cem\u003eServing Victoria\u003c\/em\u003e is an unforgettable glimpse of what it meant to serve the queen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“A vivid, entertaining and often comical portrait….Ms. Hubbard has achieved a real feat in writing so compellingly about life in the ‘airless bell jar,’ as she describes the court.”\u003cbr\u003e“Entertaining….Hubbard draws on a wealth of correspondence and diaries to weave an amusing ‘Upstairs, Upstairs’ drama.”\u003cbr\u003e“The appeal in Hubbard’s story is the excitement in an otherwise dull existence. Call it the sensuality of the stiffness….The emotional complexity is as entertaining as (and more astute than) most upstairs-downstairs soaps, even those written by Julian Fellowes.”\u003cbr\u003e“A testament to Hubbard’s talent….Readers interested in the Victorian era and the British royal family will enjoy this well-written and remarkably inte4resting account of the ‘woeful dullness’ and ‘loneliness’ of life inside Victoria’s court.”\u003cbr\u003e“Kate Hubbard’s entertaining book, drawing on the vast pile of correspondence from ladies in waiting, maids of honour and others, paints a picture of court life that is compellingly vivid.”\u003cbr\u003e“Well-written….Fascinating….Both eye opening and thoroughly engaging.”\u003cbr\u003e“Compelling....The rhythm of court life at Windsor or Balmoral is the backdrop to a rich human drama, a story of people existing in uneasy intimacy with the royal family.”\u003cbr\u003e“[Hubbard has] plundered a rich vein of fascinating and often new information.”\u003cbr\u003e“A touching portrait of Victoria offstage and unguarded.”\u003cbr\u003e“Fascinating.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780062269928\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":41071261384910,"sku":"9780062269928","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/9780062269928.jpg?v=1648610379","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780062269928","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}