ACCORDING TO QUEENEY

HarperCollins AudioBooks, UK, 2001.  ISBN 0-00-712948-3.  2 audio cassette tapes with an approx. playing time of 3 hours, still in manufacturer’s shrink wrap with a bit of sticker residue.  Read by Lindsay Duncan.  ‘… a masterly evocation of the last years of Dr. Johnson, arguably Britain’s greatest Man of Letters.  The time is the 1770s and 1780s and Johnson, having completed his life’s major work (he compiled the first ever Dictionary of the English language) is running an increasingly choatic life.  Torn between his strict morality and his undeclared passion for Mrs. Thrale, the wife of an old friend, According to Queeney reveals one of Britain’s most wonderful characters in all his wit and glory.  Above all, though, this is a story of love and friendship and brilliantly narrated by Queeney, Mrs. Thrale’s daughter, looking back over her life.’ (from rear case)