all readers were equal, herself included.'īennett's portrait of her is not only extremely funny, but also, one imagines, not far off the truth.

It tends to exclude.' None the less, she persists, drawn by the 'lofty indifference' of books: 'Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. 'I feel, ma'am, that while not exactly elitist, sends the wrong message. Attracted by Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love - 'Novels seldom came as well-connected as this and the Queen felt correspondingly reassured' - she begins a journey that encompasses autobiography, novels and non-fiction, taking in Proust, Henry James and Mary Renault, though not, unlike her mother, Dick Francis.Īs her passion grows, so her entourage becomes increasingly alarmed, in particular her ambitious private secretary Sir Kevin Scatchard. Though Ivy Compton-Burnett proves a stodgy start, she ploughs on to the end and, appetite whetted, returns for another. Her discovery of books happens by chance: the corgis discover the City of Westminster mobile library parked outside the Buckingham Palace kitchens and the Queen, having calmed their yapping, feels duty-bound to borrow a book. As portrayed by Alan Bennett in his quirky new novella, The Uncommon Reader, she is canny, intelligent and - most subversive of all - an increasingly avid reader who becomes convinced of the transformative power of literature. What is it about the Queen that inspires such deep affection in the British? As played by Helen Mirren in The Queen, HM was possessed of a steeliness, an impatience with cant and humbug and a sharp sense of humour.

The uncommon reader book