Eminent Victorians

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What to expect

Eminent Victorians, Lytton Strachey’s wonderfully witty and Wildean quartet of biographies, stands out as one of the most radical and groundbreaking works of its genre. With relentless precision, Strachey explores the lives of four exemplars of the Victorian age: Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold and General Gordon, irreverently bringing to light the flaws, strengths, ambitions and hypocrisies of these treasured legends. The combination of thrilling and imaginative narratives with Strachey’s ironic reckoning shocked many contemporary readers of the time, and even altered the course of biography, making a powerful case for its elevation to high art.

Critics Review

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award
Strachey’s relatively brief lives of four prominent Victorian personalities set a new tone and standard for biography: witty, honest, and not always full of praise. Jonathan Keeble’s narration captures the wit, irreverence and drama, as well as the poetry and stylishness of Strachey’s prose. Even though Cardinal Manning and Dr Arnold are mostly forgotten now (the other two subjects are Florence Nightingale and General Gordon), their lives reveal much about the Victorian era, and this audiobook brings all four subjects to life with considerable élan. Keeble never fails to bring emotion to the text when it is called for. All in all, an admirable rendition of a fascinating book.

D.M.H., AudioFile

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