Vanessa Collingridge

"The story of the three of us – James, George and me... where we should have been separated by geography, history and place in society, our stories were now fused into one". Oh dear, this reader thought, one of those books where the author is the reason and core of the story. But this work is better than that, and is not even a “light” history as it closely follows the Captains own official journals and offers a very readable interpretation of Cook’s journeys of discovery and show more meticulous navigation.
Because of previous readings, of the original journals, much of the history was familiar, indeed even the interposing of the Collingridge name with Cook was familiar ground, as several other writers and biographers mention the connection. Tony Horwitz covered much the same material in his account of a similar search for the man in Blue Latitudes (http://www.librarything.com/work/143772/book/71205497).
Minor complaints… this is a rather ‘breathless’ narrative. Not that it is in the style of ”scribblin’ wimmin”, but in the overuse of the word. When I visit my cardiologist he always asks “Any breathlessness?” If he asked Vanessa she should, in truth, have to reply; “Only every third paragraph or so”. Everything takes her breath away or leaves us, she claims, breathless. And the author remains seemingly convinced that “Pickled Cabbage”, or even “Salted Cabbage” is somehow different to Sauerkraut. I seem to recall her using at least two versions of this famous antiscorbutic in the same sentence!
However, the author has produced a solid, well researched, history and a good book on this remarkable man, and any author sharing an illustrious name and engaged in a work that provides a connection between the book’s subject and that name could scarcely resist providing a strong reference. show less

The problem with writing a biography about Boudica is that there's virtually nothing in the way of evidence on which a full-length book can be based. After all, her reign, if in fact she did reign, lasted only a year, a mere blink in the span of ages. As a result, this book is also the story of the early Roman emperors, Cartimandua, and the other early British tribal leaders. On the one hand, this is an interesting approach since it provides a depth on the period and a context that helps the show more (limited) story of Boudica to make sense. But the book is ostensibly a book about Boudica, and in this, it misses the mark. show less

The first I'd heard of Boudica (or Boadicea as it was spelled then) was in the Eagle Eye Mysteries in London edutainment game- one of the Eagles' friends wrote a song inspired by her. Popped up again when I signed up for the library's winter reading program, which had a time-traveling theme- read a book written about, in or set different time periods, which is problematic for me because I tend to stick to either fantasy worlds or science. Didn't feel like reading about actual Romans for the show more 'Ancient Rome' category, so opted to read about the infamous British queen's rebellion against them.

An interesting read. Collingridge first looks at the historical context and story of the actual Boudica (Rome and conquering the Gauls then Ocean then Britannia, etc.) then digs into the cultural evolution of the myth around Boudicca in the second half. The most fascinating part to me was actually a tangent- the fabrication of the Celtic identity by European Romantics in the late 1700s- early 1800s and the weird fusion of Druidism and the Britons. Use of Boudica as an avatar for whatever values the people of the time wanted to say was also interesting- would love to see comparisons of all the different depictions in plays.

I have way, way too many library books in my queue so I'm glad to get this done. Actually missed submitting any reads to the winter reading program, whoops. show less

A bit of a mixed bag. This 400 pager is not really a biography of Boudica in the traditional sense of the term. Indeed, little in the way of hard fact is known about the actual events of her life - or rather of the last year or so of her life that we know about from Tacitus and Cassius Dio - so only really enough to fill barely a quarter of the book. The first half of the book covers previous Roman and British history at some length on the basis - understandable to a degree, but stretched show more here to breaking point at nearly 200 pages - that one needs to understand that earlier history in order to understand Boudica. The last quarter looks at Boudican symbolism in literature and in popular and political culture over the centuries and makes some interesting points, though rather labours the Britannia imagery and constant comparisons to famous females including Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Margaret Thatcher and even Princess Diana. Probably the most interesting aspect of the book is the coverage of archaeological finds, what has been extrapolated from them and how this relates or not to what Tacitus and Cassius Dio tell us. show less