See buying choices for this item to see if it's one of the millions that are eligible for Amazon Prime.

4 used & new from £20.00
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Christina Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book

Christina Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric (Paperback)

by Veronica Buckley (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


1 new from £25.00 3 used from £20.00
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 6 used & new from £18.90
Paperback 3 used & new from £11.22

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857

The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857

by William Dalrymple
4.6 out of 5 stars (30)  £6.79
The Pillars of the Earth

The Pillars of the Earth

by Ken Follett
4.5 out of 5 stars (187)  £5.28
Queen Christina [1933]

Queen Christina [1933]

DVD ~ Greta Garbo
The Seventh Seal (50th Anniversary Special Edition) [1957] [DVD]

The Seventh Seal (50th Anniversary Special Edition) [1957] [DVD]

DVD ~ Max Von Sydow
4.0 out of 5 stars (6) 
The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire

by Stieg Larsson
4.5 out of 5 stars (76)  £3.86
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial (6 Jun 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1841157368
  • ISBN-13: 978-1841157368
  • Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 13 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 445,150 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #14 in  Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Cultural History > Scandinavian

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Review
'A stunning debut and an absorbing page-turner. Veronica Buckley writes with immense style, vitality and great humanity. As compelling as the most riveting of novels.' Alison Weir 'Her book is much less a debut than the highly polished work of a writer who has been thinking about and loving her subject for years, and her enjoyment in the writing of Queen Christina's life is wonderfully translated into our pleasure in reading it.' Stella Tillyard, Sunday Times 'Veronica Buckley has a flair for description and relates this extraordinary life with sympathy and engaging panache.' John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph 'This is a splendidly robust and colourful account of a remarkable woman and the turbulent age in which she lived. Astonishingly, this is Veronica Buckley's first book. May she write many more.' Philip Ziegler, Daily Telegraph

The Observer
"Christina lived in the most extraordinary life in the most extraordinary times and this engaging book does her full justice." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
swedish history

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary, 27 Jun 2005
By Klaus van Amelrode "kmcva" - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
is perhaps the word most suited for the book and its subject.

Queen Christina is perhaps - next to her hero father Gustav Adolf - the best known Swedish monarch. Her reign - as a child queen and as a short lived effective ruler - covers partly the time when Swedish power in Europe was at its height. The very daughter of the protestant hero king abdicating and turning into a Roman Catholic is itself a remarkable story. Her personality and her life style after the abdication were the talk of European courts and often provactive to scandalous.

This story has however been told many times. So ist is quite extraodinary that the author manage to shed new light into the personality of the Queen mainly by comparing reality with the very own view the Queen held about events and especially about her very own person. This is a remarkable achievement and very very interesting indeed to read about. So step by step a description of the Queen emerges properly not a flattering, but always an interesing one. She was a person who could not put into a box; one cannot describe her by using stereotypes. She was very special, but that includes not being very easy or in her case not even very likeable. Her very own perspective of her talents, abilities and political judgement did not correspond with the realities. I was wandering whether Sweden was indeed much better off without her as monarch...

Judge for yourself and and above all enjoy this book. It is written in a wonderful style. I would love to give more than just 5 stars as it is really difficult to write a interesting biography with a new persepctive about a personality about whom so many biographies have already been written. The author succeeded brilliantly!

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a flawless biography of a flawed royal, 30 Jun 2004
This review is from: Christina Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric (Hardcover)
Reared as a boy by her charismatic, kingly father, and the subject of scandalous gossip regarding her bed-sharing with a female companion, Queen Christina cast aside her crown in favour of the easy life. Buckley's book is packed with action and humour, skilfully side-stepping much of the tortured politics that makes so many other books about Swedish history so difficult to take. But while nothing can fault Buckley's multilingual research, her honesty can backfire: Christina comes across as sad, lonely, and ultimately a trifle stupid. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her grasping attempts to hang onto power, even as she capriciously rejects responsibility. The flighty way she summons the philosopher Descartes, only to indirectly cause his death is another example of her regal self-absorption. But Buckley is not afraid to tell Christina's story warts and all, and that alone is enough to gain her five well-deserved stars.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Fun for Everyone

Christmas Gifts
Achieve over 15,000 RPM with our great range of Powerballs.

›Shop the Powerball store

  

Make A Wish

Get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk Wish List.

›More info on Wish Lists

  

We've Got Converse

Converse
Stock up on your favourite styles with great deals on Converse shoes.

›Shop Converse

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates