I, VICTORIA

The Victoria Regina of this engaging fictional autobiography captivates us from her first sentence. She is humorous, clever, thoughtful, and, well, royal. Harrod-Eagles, successful British author of many historical, mystery, and romance novels, knows her stuff and manages to transform a load of research into a fascinating, educational, utterly engaging “memoir.” Diana Bishop follows suit with a multi-toned, involving reading of Victoria’s narration. She is particularly adept delineating the high-spirited young woman who was unlikely to become queen from the old woman who has become royal to her marrow. Bishop also creates a revealing vocal portrait of Victoria’s hapless foreign mother. One only wishes that the recording quality were better. Otherwise, a winner. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 03/JAN 04]