This brief and engaging study skillfully situates Victoria's life within the context of the rapidly changing political, social and international condition of Britain. Bartley is particularly strong on Victoria's interventions in complex political and foreign policy questions, allowing the biography to serve as an introduction to these questions as well as to Victoria's life. Andrew August, Abington College, Pennsylvania State University, US Bartley's Queen Victoria is both pithy and nuanced - a difficult balancing act - in its depiction of the profound interconnections between the personal and the political that characterised Victoria's life and reign; full of rich detail and drama, this is an incisive historical portrayal of a deeply paradoxical woman. - Sue Morgan, University of Chichester, UK Bartley's book is far from being a hagiography. It provides a frank and refreshing view of Victoria. By allowing her to speak for herself through her letters and journals she confirms many of the criticisms expressed by Dilke and later by Charles Trevelyan. But it is hard not to be charmed by her vulnerability and impressed by the way she applied herself to her role as monarch for 60 years, steering Britain through a century in which it could easily have fallen apart. - Mark Fisher in Standpoint Magazine Bartley's interesting biography is well researched (...) Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. - P. T. Smith, Saint Joseph's University in CHOICE