cover image
LATEST ISSUE OF
Kirkus Reviews
Check out our interview with Rick Yancey, author of the wildly entertaining YA thriller The 5th Wave.
Kirkus Star
THE KIRKUS STAR
Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit

BROWSE BOOK REVIEWS



Books on the Royal Family

Cover art for SHOOTING VICTORIA
NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 15, 2012
Kirkus Star SHOOTING VICTORIA: MADNESS, MAYHEM, AND THE REBIRTH OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY
by Paul Thomas Murphy
"The pages slip by in this well-written new take on Victoria and her times. Murphy's detailed rendering sheds entirely new light on the queen's strengths and her many weaknesses."
Enlightening study of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) and her reign. Read full book review >
Cover art for QUEEN OF THE CONQUEROR
NONFICTION
Released: April 3, 2012
QUEEN OF THE CONQUEROR: THE LIFE OF MATILDA, WIFE OF WILLIAM I
by Tracy Borman
"A richly layered treatment of the stormy reign that yielded the incomparable Bayeux Tapestry and the Domesday Book."
A British historian brings to life Queen Matilda's enormous accomplishments in consolidating early Norman rule. Read full book review >
Cover art for THAT WOMAN
NONFICTION
Released: March 13, 2012
THAT WOMAN: THE LIFE OF WALLIS SIMPSON, DUCHESS OF WINDSOR
by Anne Sebba
"Salacious and consuming, this well-researched biography will appeal to readers interested in British political and women's history."
An in-depth biography of the notorious Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, the American divorcée whose marriage to King Edward VIII cost him the throne. Read full book review >
Cover art for A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
NONFICTION
Released: March 13, 2012
A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION: VICTORIA, ALBERT, AND THE DEATH THAT CHANGED THE BRITISH MONARCHY
by Helen Rappaport
"Fluid reading by the knowledgeable author of Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion."
Absorbing account of the making of a queen through her awful, protracted grief. Read full book review >
Cover art for WINTER KING
NONFICTION
Released: March 6, 2012
WINTER KING: HENRY VII AND THE DAWN OF TUDOR ENGLAND
by Thomas Penn
"An entertaining, insightful biography featuring a colorful cast of characters, led by the formidable Henry VII, who passed on the first untroubled succession in 80 years, launching the equally turbulent but more familiar Tudor renaissance."
Henry VII, who reigned from 1485 to 1509, is little known compared to his son, Henry VIII, and granddaughter, Elizabeth I, but Verso Books editorial director Penn does an eminently satisfying job of remedying this. Read full book review >
Cover art for SISTER QUEENS
NONFICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 2012
SISTER QUEENS: THE NOBLE, TRAGIC LIVES OF KATHERINE OF ARAGON AND JUANA, QUEEN OF CASTILE
by Julia Fox
"A sad tale drawn out and viewed through rose-colored glasses."
An initially inspired juxtaposition of the lives of the two Spanish sister queens grows saccharine in the hands of British historical researcher Fox (Jane Boleyn, 2007). Read full book review >