Lytton Strachey&acute;s &quot;Queen Victoria&quot;, appeared in 1921, is the definitive biography of Britain&rsquo;s greatest monarch, who &ldquo;was hailed at once as the mother of her people and as the embodied symbol of their imperial greatness.&rdquo;<br /><br />Originally written for an adult audience, &quot;Queen Victoria&quot; is readily accessible to young adult readers. At slightly more than three hundred pages, it is relatively brief, but the most important aspects of Victoria&rsquo;s reign, both personal and political, are adequately covered. Most Important for the young reader, not a dull page appears in the book. Strachey catches the reader&rsquo;s attention with the first inverted-order sentence and holds it to the very last, lengthy one.<br /><br />Although sympathetic to Victoria, Strachey points out the queen&rsquo;s failings: her impulsiveness, her intractability, and her passionate and personal interest in politics. While she was not particularly intelligent, duty and responsibility were Victoria&rsquo;s watchwords. Through Strachey&rsquo;s narrative, the reader watches the young Victoria, full of gaiety and impetuosity, become the doting wife, then the somber widow, and finally a grandmotherly figure whose deficiencies are universally ignored.