Description
According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge is a richly imagined historical novel, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, that brings to life the final years of the renowned English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson.
Told through the eyes of Queeney Thrale, the perceptive daughter of Johnson’s close friends Hester and Henry Thrale, the novel follows Johnson’s recovery from a period of severe depression and his years spent as a frequent guest at the Thrale household. As Queeney matures, she witnesses the complex relationships, emotional tensions, and moral dilemmas that unfold between her parents and the brilliant but deeply eccentric Johnson.
Blending historical fact with masterful fiction, Bainbridge paints an intimate portrait of one of Britain’s greatest literary figures while vividly recreating the social life and intellectual world of eighteenth-century England. Witty, poignant, and meticulously researched, According to Queeney is a compelling exploration of friendship, family, genius, and the often-blurred line between history and imagination.
