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Hello, my name is Kelly and I welcome you to the Bookend Diaries book blog. I created this blog to share my own reviews of existing and new books, to discuss with other readers what we’re currently reading, update you on my book club picks, and of course, to ultimately support the work of the authors we all enjoy. I am addicted to reading and I thought this would be a great way to reach out to other readers who are as obsessed with books as I am.

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Victoria & Abdul By: Shrabani Basu


History’s most unlikely friendship—this is the astonishing story of Queen Victoria and her dearest companion, the young Indian Munshi Abdul Karim.

In the twilight years of her reign, after the devastating deaths of hertwo great loves—Prince Albert and John Brown—Queen Victoria meets tall and handsome Abdul Karim, a humble servant from Agra waiting tables at her Golden Jubilee. The two form an unlikely bond and within a year Abdul becomes a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher, her counsel on Urdu and Indian affairs, and a friend close to her heart. This marked the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign. As the royal household roiled with resentment, Victoria and Abdul’s devotion grew in defiance. Drawn from secrets closely guarded for more than a century, Victoria & Abdul is an extraordinary and intimate history of the last years of the nineteenth-century English court and an unforgettable view onto the passions of an aging Queen.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Queen Victoria and her reign. She truly had an amazing life filled with so much responsibility placed on her when she was only eighteen years old. She was married to Albert who became the love of her life and had nine children together. Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years. She loved to write and she documented everything. There are so many wonderful books to explore about her. There are books just on her letters that she wrote to her love Albert. She was an excellent writer in her own right. Now the movie has just come out that ties into this book, I personally can't wait to see it.