According to Queeney

“A dark, often hilarious and deeply human vision” of the last years in the life of Dr Johnson—“a major literary accomplishment” (Margaret Atwood).

After suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of completing his major work—the first ever Dictionary of the English Language—Samuel Johnson, the most celebrated man of English letters, is invited by his friend Henry Thrale, a wealthy brewer, to recuperate with him and his family at their country estate. Here the melancholic, middle-aged lexicographer falls in love with Henry’s wife Hester, but, tortured by his strict sense of morality, his passion remains undeclared. 

For the next twenty years, the Thrales provide Johnson with a much needed home, financial support, and keen intellectual stimulation. The years he spends with them are the happiest of his life, and some of the most significant too. Recounted here with a wit and vim that gives Johnson’s own a run for its money, this story of love and friendship, as seen through the eyes of the Thrales’ eldest daughter “Queeney”—whom we watch transform from precocious child into an imperious and vigilantly perceptive young woman—was nominated for the Booker Prize and is widely considered to be one of Bainbridge’s very finest achievements.