"This book's unvarnished quality is the source of its wrecking cumulative power. Barthes's ironic intellect, apparent everywhere in his many books, is wrapped here around his sore and nakedly beating heart."—Dwight Garner, The New York Times

"What if Queen Elizabeth at the age of 70-something were suddenly to become a voracious reader? What if she were to become an avid fan of Proust and Balzac, Turgenev and Trollope and Hardy? And what if reading were to lead her, in turn, to becoming a writer? Mr. Bennett's musings on these matters have produced a delightful little book that unfolds into a witty meditation on the subversive pleasures of reading . . . In recounting this story of a ruler who becomes a reader, a monarch who'd rather write than reign, Mr. Bennett has written a captivating fairy tale . . . that showcases its author's customary élan and keen but humane wit."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times