Becoming an adult is an important stage in the life of anyone. Usually, the age at which a young person becomes an adult is seen as eighteen. It is a time when you leave your childhood behind for a bigger adventure. What was life like for some of the most famous people who lived in Britain throughout the centuries? Did they know when they were eighteen what great things they would do? What advice can they offer to a newer generation of young adults? Alice Loxton explores the lives of eighteen extraordinary figures of British history when they became adults in her book “Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives.”

I have followed Alice Loxton on Instagram for a while now, as I have thoroughly enjoyed her videos. When I saw the cover of this book and read the description, it felt so fresh and innovative that I knew I wanted to read it.

Loxton explains in her introduction how this concept of hitting the age of maturity has changed over the centuries. Each person mentioned in this book is at a different stage of life, but we are able to see their hopes and ambitions for the future. She also notes that some stories were harder to research than others, especially when it comes to their childhood, because of a lack of records about their lives. So, how does Loxton connect these figures who lived in different centuries and had different paths in life into one book? Why, with a hypothetical dinner party, of course, which is such an ingenious and delightful idea. It allows the audience to see how historical figures might interact with each other in a modern setting.

So the question remains, who is coming to dinner? Each chapter focuses on a different guest and a mini-biography about them. We begin with the author, the Venerable Bede, who was just a monk wanting to survive a plague, followed by Empress Matilda, who will fight for her birthright, the throne of England. We get to meet a young Geoffrey Chaucer before he writes his famous work, The Canterbury Tales. In the Tudor age, we meet an African diver named Jacques Francis, who is on a mission to salvage The Mary Rose, as well as Princess Elizabeth Tudor, who just wants to survive the tumultuous court. With the Stuarts, we meet Jeffrey Hudson, whose small stature makes him a sensation at the court of two queens, and Fionnghal Nic Dhomhnaill, who discovers that one moment can change a person’s fate. We are introduced to the young Horace Nelson before he becomes a war hero, the remarkable art of Sarah Biffin, who paints with no hands or feet, and the fossil hunter Mary Anning. There is the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the surgeon and suffragist Elsie Inglis, and the garden designer Vita Sackville- West.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, we are introduced to Jack Lewis, before he began to write The Chronicles of Narnia; Rosalind Franklin, an aspiring chemist who took a photo that changed the world; the actor Richard Burton, before he became famous; and the fashion icon Vivienne Westwood, when she was struggling to figure out her path in life. Finally, we are introduced to the mysterious Rae DeDarre.

I did not know what to expect when I first saw this book, but I am so glad I read it. It has been a long time since I have read a book that is both educational and unbelievably fun to read. That is this book. There were some historical figures that I knew or at least knew their names, but there were several who were completely new to me, which was so exciting. I cannot wait to read more books by Alice Loxton and see how she approaches history in the future. This is an ideal book for anyone, whether they are approaching eighteen or those who fondly remember the age of eighteen. If you are a history lover who wants to learn more about the history of Britain in a fun and innovative way, you will thoroughly enjoy “Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives” by Alice Loxton.