Welcome to Litsy!

#bookhaul from our used bookstore visit yesterday. Found several Christmas reads I'd been looking for, plus several others I didn't realize I was.

Queen Victoria, the ultimate matriarch. Really interesting look at Queen Victoria‘s role in orchestrating marriages for her grandchildren to fulfill her (and Albert‘s) vision of a peaceful Europe ruled by family. Read this a few years ago and found it wholly absorbing.

#Matriarch #MayMoms
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Wow! This book was insane. Should Queen Victoria have done that? No. Was is super smart that she did? Yes. I had no idea how much influence royal marriages had over Europe and how they eventually led to WW1.

My son got back from visiting my dad and stepmom‘s today and so we went to the park to play! I eventually got too hot playing in the sun so sat in the shade to read while he kept going.

I DEVOURED this book.

Disappointing. More of a group biography than an analysis of her machinations. I didn‘t learn anything new and have alternative book recommendations that do the job better. See the comments.

So far, I haven‘t actually learned a lot that I didn‘t already know. But then I had big Queen Victoria phase as a child (which mostly centred around her family and genealogy) so perhaps I‘m not the target market.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match...new hold in at the library today!

I love anything about Queen Victoria - heard #DeborahCadbury on .@HistoryExtra podcast & couldn't wait for this book. Loved #PrincesAtWar and this is even better!

Even though I love the subject matter, I was afraid that this would be dry and dull. But it isn‘t at all, it was a wonderful, personal story about cousins caught up in political situations they couldn‘t control and falling in love with the wrong people. Fascinating, informative stuff.

I picked this up as a birthday present for myself and I loved it. It focuses on seven of Queen Victoria's grandchildren and their marriages and it's not a huge book so doesn't go into too much detail but it was a very easy read and it did leave me wanting to know more. Would recommend for anyone interested in this period of history.