In his introduction, Lloyd Strickland proposes that Sophie, Electress of Hanover, and her daughter, Queen Sophie Charlotte of Prussia, found consolation in the idea of divine justice. Too long themselves unfairly dismissed as philosophical lightweights, proper justice may now be given to their views through this edition of their private correspondences with Leibniz. Appearing for the first time in English translation, the philosophical selections cover topics from the nature of substance to universal salvation and evidence the independence of the women’s thought as they defend materialism and challenge Leibniz’s conviction that God created the best possible world. The edition also boasts copious and highly informative editorial notes. It is a most welcome addition to The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: Toronto series.

Granddaughter of James I of England, Sophia (1630–1714) began life a penniless princess in exile. She ended it as electress dowager of Hanover, an emerging European power. Had she lived two months longer, she would have succeeded to the British crown before her son, George I. In keeping with Sophia’s reputation as the era’s “most entertaining woman,” her memoirs, which she wrote in French, paint a captivating and often humorous portrait of her life as one of Europe’s preeminent noblewomen and celebrities. They also recall, with insight and verve, her interactions with leading men and ladies (Charles II, Louis XIV, Queen Christina of Sweden) and long-forgotten bit players (cavaliers, concubines, clerics, and quacks). The memoirs, which recount the first fifty years of Sophia’s life, appear here in English for the first time in their entirety. Their publication in this series is particularly timely, as it coincides with the three hundredth anniversary of the Hanoverian succession (2014).