Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household - Tapa dura

"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."--Wall Street Journal

"Entertaining....Hubbard draws on a wealth of correspondence and diaries to weave an amusing 'Upstairs, Upstairs' drama."--The New Yorker

"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."--Daily Beast

"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."--Library Journal

"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."--The Observer (London)

"Well-written....Fascinating....Both eye opening and thoroughly engaging."--Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times (London)

"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."--Ben Wilson, Daily Telegraph (London)

"[Hubbard has] plundered a rich vein of fascinating and often new information."--Val Hennessy, Daily Mail (London)

"A touching portrait of Victoria offstage and unguarded."--Kirkus Reviews

"Fascinating."--Booklist

Drawing from letters and diaries, this vibrant portrait of Queen Victoria offers a unique insight into the Victorian court and the real woman behind the austere figure depicted in her famous portraits by following the lives of six members of her household. 25,000 first printing.