According to Queeney

Beryl Bainbridge's Booker-longlisted novel is a luminous, elegiac portrait of Samuel Johnson's final years, narrated largely through the eyes of his young friend and the Thrale family's daughter, Queeney. Set in the late 18th century, the story follows Johnson as he grapples with failing health, the loss of his contemporaries, and the slow passage of time, all while remaining anchored by the enduring warmth of his friendship with Hester Thrale and her family. Bainbridge's prose is precise and evocative, capturing the texture of 18th-century literary life and the quiet dignity of a man who had already given so much to his craft. The novel also includes a coda of letters from Queeney to her friend Laetitia Hawkins, written years after Johnson's death, which offer a poignant meditation on memory and the passage of time. A rich, melancholic, and deeply reflective work for readers who appreciate literary fiction grounded in history.