Jean Plaidy / Philippa Carr Books In Order

Murder Most Royal / King’s Pleasure

One powerful king. Two tragic queens. In the court of Henry VIII, it was dangerous for a woman to catch the king’s eye. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were cousins. Both were beautiful women, though very different in temperament. They each learned that Henry s passion was all consuming and fickle. Sophisticated Anne Boleyn, raised in the decadent court of France, was in love with another man when King Henry claimed her as his own. Being his mistress gave her a position of power; being his queen put her life in jeopardy. Her younger cousin, Catherine Howard, was only fifteen when she was swept into the circle of King Henry. Her innocence attracted him, but a past mistake was destined to haunt her. Painted in the rich colors of Tudor England, Murder Most Royal is a page turning journey into the lives of two of the wives of the tempestuous Henry VIII. Look for the Reading Group Guide at the back of this book. Also available as an ebook.

The Sixth Wife

Dangerous court intrigue and affairs of the heart collide as renowned novelist Jean Plaidy tells the story of Katherine Parr, the last of Henry VIII’s six queens. Henry VIII s fifth wife, Katherine Howard, was both foolish and unfaithful, and she paid for it with her life. Henry vowed that his sixth wife would be different, and she was. Katherine Parr was twice widowed and thirty one years old. A thoughtful, well read lady, she was known at court for her unblemished reputation and her kind heart. She had hoped to marry for love and had set her heart on Thomas Seymour, the dashing brother of Henry s third queen. But the aging king more in need of a nurse than a wife was drawn to her, and Katherine could not refuse his proposal of marriage. Queen Katherine was able to soothe the King s notorious temper, and his three children grew fond of her, the only mother they had ever really known. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a volatile tyrant, books were Katherine s consolation. But among her intellectual pursuits was an interest in Lutheranism a religion that the king saw as a threat to his supremacy as head of the new Church of England. Courtiers envious of the Queen s influence over Henry sought to destroy her by linking her with the radical religious reformers. Henry raged that Katherine had betrayed him, and had a warrant drawn up for her arrest and imprisonment. At court it was whispered that the king would soon execute yet another wife. Henry s sixth wife would have to rely on her wits to survive where two other women had perished…
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The Spanish Bridegroom / For a Queen’s Love

Power hungry monarch, cold blooded murderer, obsessive monster who could love such a man? Set against the glittering courts of sixteenth century Europe, the Spain of the dreaded Inquisition, and the tortured England of Bloody Mary, For a Queen’s Love is the story of Philip II of Spain and of the women who loved him as a husband and father. Philip was a dark and troubled man, who, like many royals, had been robbed of his childhood. His first marriage, a romantic union with childlike Maria Manoela, brought him tragedy and a troublesome son, Don Carlos. Then followed marriage with the jealously possessive Mary Tudor, a political union that ultimately failed to bring Philip an heir that would solidify the unified power he so deeply desired. And finally, marriage again to a young bride Philip stole from his unbalanced son, sowing the seeds of brutal murder. But history is seldom what it seems, and in the hands of beloved author Jean Plaidy, we hear another side to the story of Philip II the most powerful of kings who was at once fanatic, murderer, husband, father, and lover.

Saint Thomas’ Eve / The King’s Confidante

An English lawyer and statesman, Sir Thomas More was a kind father who put as much emphasis on educating his daughters as on his son, declaring that women were just as intelligent as men. His favorite daughter, Meg, is the hero*ine of this novel in which we witness the everyday lives of people in Tudor England. Plaidy takes readers into a world far removed from the grandeur of the courts, into the home of a simple family and a caring father who only wants to do what is morally best not just for his family, but for England. As secretary and personal adviser to King Henry VIII, More becomes increasingly influential in the government, welcoming foreign diplomats, drafting official documents, and serving as a liaison between the king and the Archbishop of York. His own household stands in startling contrast to the licentious Tudor court, but as lord chancellor he gains recognition and becomes indispensable to the king. More’s love of faith surpas*ses his duty to the crown, and his refusal to accept King Henry VIII s claim to be supreme head of the Church of England ends his political career…
and leads to his trial for treason.

Gay Lord Robert / Lord Robert / A Favorite of the Queen

Torn between her heart’s passion and duty to her kingdom, a young queen makes a dark choice Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester was the most powerful man in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Handsome and clever, he drew the interest of many women but it was Elizabeth herself that loved him best of all. Their relationship could have culminated in marriage but for the existence of Amy Robsart, Robert’s tragic young wife, who stood between them and refused to be swept away to satisfy a monarch s desire for a man that was not rightfully her own. But when Amy suddenly dies, under circumstances that many deem to be mysterious at best, the Queen and her lover are placed under a dark cloud of suspicion, and Elizabeth is forced to make a choice that will define her legacy.

Katharine, the Virgin Widow

Katharine of Aragon had barely been married to Arthur, Prince of Wales when he died, leaving a fateful question looming: had the marriage been consummated? On that delicate point hinged Katharine’sand England’sfuture.

The Shadow of the Pomegranate

The marriage of young Katharine of Aragon and King Henry VIII was a right royal match. But would Queen Katharine be able to give Henry the healthy son he so desperately wanted?

The King’s Secret Matter

A fictional recounting of Henry VIII’s plot, with the help of the power hungry Cardinal Wolsey, to divorce his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn, captures the complex rivalries and intrigues of England’s Royal Court.

The Thistle and the Rose

From the pen of the legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy comes the story of Princess Margaret Tudor, whose life of tragedy, bloodshed, and scandal would rival even that of her younger brother, Henry VIII. Princess Margaret Tudor is the greatest prize when her father, Henry VII, negotiates the Treaty of Perpetual Peace with neighboring Scotland. The betrothal is meant to end decades of bloody border wars, but it becomes a love match: To Margaret’s surprise, she finds joy in her marriage to the dashing James IV of Scotland, a man sixteen years her senior. But the marriage, and the peace it brings to both nations, does not last. When King James is struck down by the armies of Henry VIII, Margaret Princess of England, but Queen of Scotland finds herself torn between loyalty to the land and family of her birth and to that of her baby son, now King of the Scots. She decides to remain in Scotland and carve out her own destiny, surviving a scandalous second marriage and battling with both her son and her brother to the very end. Like all the Tudors, Margaret’s life would be one of turmoil and controversy, but through her descendants, England and Scotland would unite as one nation, under one rule, and find peace.

Mary, Queen of France

Legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy brings to life the story of Princess Mary Tudor, a celebrated beauty and born rebel who would defy the most powerful king in Europe her older brother. Princess Mary Rose is the youngest sister of Henry VIII, and one of the few people whom he adores unconditionally. Known throughout Europe for her charm and good looks, Mary is the golden child of the Tudor family and is granted her every wish. Except when it comes to marriage. Henry VIII, locked in a political showdown with France, decides to offer up his pampered baby sister to secure peace between the two mighty kingdoms. Innocent, teenage Mary must become the wife of the elderly King Louis, a toothless, ailing man in his sixties. Horrified and furious, Mary has no choice but to sail for France. There she hones her political skills, bides her time, and remains secretly in love with Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk. When King Louis dies, after only two years of marriage, Mary is determined not to be sold into another unhappy union. She must act quickly; if she wants to be with the man she truly loves, she must defy the laws of church and state by marrying without her brother’s permission. Together, Mary and Charles devise a scheme to outwit the most ruthless king in Europe and gain their hearts desire, not knowing if it will lead to marital bliss or certain death.

Uneasy Lies the Head / To Hold the Crown

From exile and war to love and loss every dynasty has a beginning. Henry Tudor was not born to the throne of England. Having come of age in a time of political turmoil and danger, the man who would become Henry VII spent fourteen years in exile in Brittany before returning triumphantly to the Dorset coast with a small army and decisively winning the Battle of Bosworth Field ending the War of the Roses once and for all and launching the infamous Tudor dynasty. As Henry’s claim to the throne was tenuous, his marriage to Elizabeth of York, daughter and direct heir of King Edward IV, not only served to unify the warring houses, it also helped Henry secure the throne for himself and for generations to come. And though their union was born from political necessity, it became a wonderful love story that led to seven children and twenty happy years together. Sweeping and dramatic, To Hold the Crown brings readers inside the genesis of the great Tudor empire: through Henry and Elizabeth s troubled ascensions to the throne, their marriage and rule, the heartbreak caused by the death of their son Arthur, and, ultimately, to the crowning of their younger son, King Henry VIII. Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama. New York Times

Madame Serpent

Sullen-eyed and broken-hearted, fourteen-year-old Catherine de’Medici arrives in Marseilles to marry Henry of Orleans, second son of the King of France. On the promise of a dowry fit for a king, Catherine has left her true love in Italy, forced into trading her future for a stake in the French crown. Amid the glittering fetes and banquets of the most immoral court in sixteenth-century Europe, the reluctant bride becomes a passionate but unwanted wife. Humiliated and unloved, Catherine spies on Henry and his lover, the infamous Diane de Poitiers. And, tortured by what she sees, Catherine becomes dangerously occupied by a ruthless ambition destined to make her the most despised woman in France: the dream that one day the French crown will be worn be a Medici heir…

The Italian Woman / The Unholy Woman

When Catherine de’ Medici was forced to marry Henry of Orleans, her’s was not the only heart broken. Jeanne of Navarre once dreamed of marrying this same prince, but like Catherine, she must bend to the will of King Francis’s political needs. And so both Catherine and Jeanne’s lives are set on unwanted paths, destined to cross in affairs of state, love and faith, driving them to become deadly political rivals. Years later, Jeanne is happily married to the dashing but politically inept Antoine de Bourbon, whilst the widowed Catherine continues to be loved by few and feared by many – including her children. But she is now the powerful mother of kings, who will do anything to see her beloved second son, Henry, rule France. As civil war ravages the country and Jeanne fights for the Huguenot cause, Catherine advances along her unholy road, making enemies at every turn…

The Murder in the Tower

The dashing Robert Carr is a well known favorite of King James I. After attracting his attention by falling from a horse in the tiltyard, Robert rises quickly through the ranks. But when the cunning and beautiful Frances Howard comes to court, a very dangerous liaison changes everything. Married against her will while still a child, Frances emerges from that experience a headstrong force of nature determined to have her own way, no matter what the consequences. Her attempts to rid herself of an unwanted husband, and later to ensnare a lukewarm lover, have led her deep into the world of spell makers and poisoners. This is a woman to underestimate at great peril. But not until Robert finds himself ensnared in one of Frances’s plots imprisoned in the Tower of London and accused of murder does he learn at last what she is truly capable of.

The Three Crowns

When an empire is at stake, one woman stands between the past and the future In post Restoration England, King Charles II has fathered numerous bast*ards, but not a single legitimate heir. Because of this, his brother, James, Duke of York, is heir presumptive to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland The Three Crowns of Britain. But James’s devout Catholicism, and desire to return Britain to the rule of Rome, does not sit well with his subjects and his time as king is sure to be short. Raised under the Protestant guardianship of her uncle King Charles, James s daughter Mary finds herself at fifteen facing a marriage to the Dutch and Protestant William of Orange, long prophesied to be destined for the throne. But can she follow her calling to rule Britain without losing the love of her father? Captivating in its historical detail, lush and sweeping in its scope, and unforgettable in its dramatic depiction of relationships between monarchs and families, The Three Crowns is the singular story of the only joint sovereigns in British history.

The Haunted Sisters / Royal Sisters

Two sisters change the course of a nation by forsaking the King their own father. England is on the verge of revolution. Antagonized by the Catholicism of King James II, the people plot to drive him from the throne. But at the heart of the plot is a deep betrayal: the defection of the daughters James loves, Mary and Anne. Both raised Protestant according to the wishes of England, the sisters support Protestant usurper William of Orange, Mary’s husband, who lusts after the British crown. Passive Queen Mary is subservient to her husband’s wishes, while Anne is desperate to please her childhood friend Sarah Churchill, a bold and domineering woman determined to subdue Anne, the queen to be, and rule England herself. Intrigue and political drama run high as the sisters struggle to be reconciled with each other and with the haunting memory of the father they have exiled.

The Queen’s Favourites / Courting Her Highness

A private battle rages at court for the affections of a childless queen, who must soon name her successor and thus determine the future of the British Empire. It is the beginning of the eighteenth century and William of Orange is dying. Soon Anne is crowned queen, but to court insiders, the name of the imminent sovereign is Sarah Churchill. Beautiful, outspoken Sarah has bewitched Anne and believes she is invincible until she installs her poor cousin Abigail Hill into court as royal chambermaid. Plain Abigail seems the least likely challenger to Sarah’s place in her highness s affections, but challenge it she does, in stealthy yet formidable ways. While Anne engages in her private tug of war, the nation is obsessed with another, more public battle: succession. Anne is sickly and childless, the last of the Stuart line. This final novel of the Stuarts from Jean Plaidy weaves larger than life characters through a dark maze of intrigue, love, and destruction, with nothing less than the future of the British Empire at stake.

Madonna of the Seven Hills

The most beautiful woman in Rome, Lucrezia Borgia, was born into a family and a destiny she could not hope to escape…
Fifteenth century Rome: The Borgia family is on the rise. Lucrezia’s father, Pope Alexander VI, places his illegitimate daughter and her only brothers, Cesare, Giovanni, and Goffredo, in the jeweled splendor and scandal of his court. From the Pope s affairs with adolescent girls to Cesare s dangerous jealousy of anyone who inspires Lucrezia s affections to the ominous birth of a child conceived in secret, no Borgia can elude infamy. Young Lucrezia gradually accepts her fate as she comes to terms with the delicate nature of her relationships with her father and brothers. The unbreakable bond she shares with them both exhilarates and terrifies her as her innocence begins to fade. Soon she will understand that her family s love pales next to their quest for power and that she herself is the greatest tool in their political arsenal. From the inimitable pen of Jean Plaidy, this family s epic legend is repletewith passion, intrigue, and murder and it s only the beginning.

Light on Lucrezia

Some said she was an elegant seductress. Others swore she was an incestuous murderess. It didn t matter what they called her. She was the most dangerous and sought after woman in all of Rome. She was Lucrezia Borgia. Born into Rome’s notorious Borgia family, young Lucrezia led a life colored by violence and betrayal. Now, married for the second time at just eighteen, she hopes for happiness with her handsome husband, Alfonso. But faced with brutal murder, she s soon torn between her love for her husband and her devotion to her brother Cesare…
And in the days when the Borgias ruled Italy, no one was safe from the long arm of their power. Even Lucrezia. In this compelling story of a beautiful woman caught up in a tortuous web of fear and love, Jean Plaidy sheds light on the much maligned Lucrezia and vividly brings her to life.

The Royal Road to Fotheringhay / Mary, Queen of Scotland: The Triumphant Year (By:Eleanor Burford)

The haunting story of the beautiful and tragic Mary, Queen of Scots, as only legendary novelist Jean Plaidy could write itMary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old. Her French born mother, the Queen Regent, knew immediately that the infant queen would be a vulnerable pawn in the power struggle between Scotland’s clans and nobles. So Mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. Unusually tall and slim, a writer of music and poetry, Mary was celebrated throughout Europe for her beauty and intellect. Married in her teens to the Dauphin Fran ois, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well. But Mary s happiness was short lived. Her husband, always sickly, died after only two years on the throne, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king. At the age of twenty, she returned to Scotland, a place she barely knew. Once home, the Queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. She spoke only French and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians. Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, including her illegitimate half brother, the Earl of Moray, and by John Knox, a fire and brimstone Calvinist preacher, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a who*re. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. But Darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. In haste, she married Lord Bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband s murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. When her nobles rose against her, the disgraced Queen of Scots fled to England, hoping to be taken in by her cousin Elizabeth I. But Mary s flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle…
Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama. New York Times

The Captive Queen of Scots

Burn the murderess! So begins Jean Plaidy’s The Captive Queen of Scots, the epic tale of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, cousin to Queen Elizabeth of England. After her husband, Lord Darnley, is murdered, suspicion falls on Mary and her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. A Catholic in a land of stern Protestants, Mary finds herself in the middle of a revolt, as her bloodthirsty subjects call for her arrest and execution. In disgrace, she flees her Scottish persecutors for England, where she appeals to Queen Elizabeth for mercy, but to no avail. Throughout Mary s long years as the Queen s prisoner, she conceives many bold plans for revenge and escaping to freedom but the gallows of Fotheringhay Castle loom…
Set against royal pageantry, religious strife, and bloody uprising and filled with conspiracies, passion, heartbreak, and fascinating historical detail The Captive Queen of Scots is an unforgettable, page turning tale of the intense rivalry between two powerful women of noble blood.

Goddess of the Green Room

Abandoning Ireland and beginning her life anew in England, Dorothy Jordan, the newest star at London’s Drury Lane Theatre, begins a celebrated love affair with the Prince Regent’s younger brother and faces a life of struggle.

The Queen and Lord M (As: Victoria Holt)

On the morning of 20th June 1837, an eighteen year old girl is called from her bed to be told that she is Queen of England. The Victorian age has begun. The young queen’s first few years are beset with court scandal and malicious gossip: there is the unsavoury Flora Hastings affair, a source of extreme embarrassment to the queen; the eternal conflict between Victoria and her mother, and the young queen’s hatred of Sir John Conroy, her mother’s close friend. Then there is the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne ‘Lord M’ worldly cynic and constant companion to the queen, himself a veteran of many a latter day scandal. He proves to be her guiding light until the dashing Prince Albert appears and she falls hopelessly in love…

The Plantagenet Prelude

When William X dies, the duchy of Aquitaine is left to his fifteen year old daughter, Eleanor. But such a position for an unmarried woman puts the whole kingdom at risk. So on his deathbed William made a will that would ensure his daughter’s protection: he promised her hand in marriage to the future King of France. Eleanor grows into a romantic and beautiful queen, but she has inherited the will of a king, and is determined to rule Aquitaine using her husband’s power as King of France. Her resolve knows no limit and, in the years to follow she was to become one of history’s most scandalous queens.

The Heart of the Lion

At the age of thirty two, Richard the Lionheart has finally succeeded Henry II to the English throne. And, against his father’s wishes, he intends to make Berengaria, daughter of the King of Navarre, his Queen. But first he must fulfil his vow to his country to win back Jerusalem for the Christian world. Leaving England to begin his crusade, Richard’s kingdom is left in the hands of his brother, John, who casts covetous eyes on the crown, and his sister, Joanna, who is willing to defy even a king.

The Prince of Darkness

The untimely death of Richard the Lionheart left his nephew Arthur and his younger brother John in contest for the throne of England. Reluctantly the barons chose John, and so began years of rule by a ruthless and greedy tyrant. Yet despite his reputation, John, still manages to seduce the young and beautiful Isabella of Angeloume. But in taking her as his bride he makes an enemy for life. And in the tempestuous years that follow many men come to believe that the House of Anjou was tainted by the Devil’s blood, the loathsome monarch was himself Evil Incarnate, the very Prince of Darkness…

Myself My Enemy / Loyal in Love

The daughter of Henry IV of France, Princess Henrietta Maria, becomes a pawn in a political strategy to stabilize relations between two countries when her father marries her to Charles I of England. Sent abroad, she finds herself living in a Protestant country that views her own faith Catholicism with deep suspicion. Yet her new husband is a man of principle and integrity, and Henrietta and Charles fall deeply in love. Henrietta is passionate about her faith, however, and soon politically powerful people, namely Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans, turn her loyalty to her religion into a focal point for civil war. As the royal couple watch the fall of Thomas Wentworth, first Earl of Strafford, the rise of Puritanism, and Englishmen fight Englishmen, they are undeterred in their dedication to each other and in their belief in the divine rights of king and queen even as spies lurk in their very own household. Loyal in Love offers an inside look at an unforgettable time in England’s history and at the life of a queen whose story of devotion and bravery has gone untold for too long. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Queen of This Realm

In this ‘memoir’ by Elizabeth I, legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy reveals the Virgin Queen as she truly was: the bewildered, motherless child of an all powerful father; a captive in the Tower of London; a shrewd politician; a lover of the arts; and eventually, an icon of an era. It is the story of her improbable rise to power and the great triumphs of her reign the end of religious bloodshed, the settling of the New World, the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Brilliantly clever, a scholar with a ready wit, she was also vain, bold, and unpredictable, a queen who commanded and won absolute loyalty from those around her. But in these pages, in her own voice, Elizabeth also recounts the emotional turmoil of her life: the loneliness of power; the heartbreak of her lifelong love affair with Robert Dudley, whom she could never marry; and the terrible guilt of ordering the execution of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. In this unforgettable novel, Elizabeth emerges as one of the most fascinating and controversial women in history, and as England’s greatest monarch. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Victoria Victorious

In this unforgettable novel of Queen Victoria, Jean Plaidy re creates a remarkable life filled with romance, triumph, and tragedy. At birth, Princess Victoria was fourth in line for the throne of England, the often overlooked daughter of a prince who died shortly after her birth. She and her mother lived in genteel poverty for most of her childhood, exiled from court because of her mother’s dislike of her uncles, George IV and William IV. A strong, willful child, Victoria was determined not to be stifled by her powerful uncles or her unpopular, controlling mother. Then one morning, at the age of eighteen, Princess Victoria awoke to the news of her uncle William s death. The almost forgotten princess was now Queen of England. Even better, she was finally free of her mother s iron hand and her uncles manipulations. Her first act as queen was to demand that she be given a room and a bed of her own. Victoria s marriage to her German cousin, Prince Albert, was a blissfully happy one that produced nine children. Albert was her constant companion and one of her most trusted advisors. Victoria s grief after Prince Albert s untimely death was so shattering that for the rest of her life nearly forty years she dressed only in black. She survived several assassination attempts, and during her reign England s empire expanded around the globe until it touched every continent in the world. Derided as a mere girl queen at her coronation, by the end of her sixty four year reign, Victoria embodied the glory of the British Empire. In this novel, written as a memoir by Victoria herself, she emerges as truthful, sentimental, and essentially human both a lovable woman and a great queen. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Lady in the Tower

One of history’s most complex and alluring women comes to life in this classic novel by the
legendary Jean Plaidy.

Young Anne Boleyn was not beautiful but she was irresistible, capturing the hearts of kings and commoners alike. Daughter of an ambitious country lord, Anne was sent to France to learn sophistication, and then to court to marry well and raise the family’s fortunes. She soon surpassed even their greatest expectations. Although his queen was loving and loyal, King Henry VIII swore he would put her aside and make Anne his wife. And so he did, though the divorce would tear apart the English church and inflict religious turmoil and bloodshed on his people for generations to come.

Loathed by the English people, who called her ‘the King’s Great Who*re,’ Anne Boleyn was soon caught in the trap of her own ambition. Political rivals surrounded her at court and, when she failed to produce a much-desired male heir, they closed in, preying on the king’s well-known insecurity and volatile temper. Wrongfully accused of adultery and incest, Anne found herself imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she was at the mercy of her husband and of her enemies.

The Courts of Love

When I look back over my long and tempestuous life, I can see that much of what happened to me my triumphs and most of my misfortunes was due to my passionate relationships with men. I was a woman who considered herself their equal and in many ways their superior but it seemed that I depended on them, while seeking to be the dominant partner an attitude which could hardly be expected to bring about a harmonious existence. Eleanor of Aquitaine was revered for her superior intellect, extraordinary courage, and fierce loyalty. She was equally famous for her turbulent relationships, which included marriages to the kings of both France and England. As a child, Eleanor reveled in her beloved grandfather’s Courts of Love, where troubadours sang of romantic devotion and passion filled the air. In 1137, at the age of fifteen, Eleanor became Duchess of Aquitaine, the richest province in Europe. A union with Louis VII allowed her to ascend the French throne, yet he was a tepid and possessive man and no match for a young woman raised in The Courts of Love. When Eleanor met the magnetic Henry II, the first Plantagenet King of England, their stormy pairing set great change in motion and produced many sons and daughters, two of whom would one day reign in their own right. In this majestic and sweeping story, set against a backdrop of medieval politics, intrigue, and strife, Jean Plaidy weaves a tapestry of love, passion, betrayal, and heartbreak and reveals the life of a most remarkable woman whose iron will and political savvy enabled her to hold her own against the most powerful men of her time. From the Trade Paperback edition.

In the Shadow of the Crown

As Henry VIII’s only child, the future seemed golden for Princess Mary. She was the daughter of Henry’s first queen, Katharine of Aragon, and was heir presumptive to the throne of England. Red haired like her father, she was also intelligent and deeply religious like her staunchly Catholic mother. But her father’s ill fated love for Anne Boleyn would shatter Mary’s life forever. The father who had once adored her was now intent on having a male heir at all costs. He divorced her mother and, at the age of twelve, Mary was banished from her father’s presence, stripped of her royal title, and replaced by his other children first Elizabeth, then Edward. Worst of all, she never saw her beloved mother again; Katharine was exiled too, and died soon after. Lonely and miserable, Mary turned for comfort to the religion that had sustained her mother. In a stroke of fate, however, Henry’s much longed for son died in his teens, leaving Mary the legitimate heir to the throne. It was, she felt, a sign from God proof that England should return to the Catholic Church. Swayed by fanatical advisors and her own religious fervor, Mary made horrific examples of those who failed to embrace the Church, earning her the immortal nickname ‘Bloody Mary.’ She was married only once, to her Spanish cousin Philip II a loveless and childless marriage that brought her to the edge of madness. With In the Shadow of the Crown, Jean Plaidy brings to life the dark story of a queen whose road to the throne was paved with sorrow. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Queen’s Secret

Katherine of Valois was born a princess, the daughter of King Charles VI of France. But by the time Katherine was old enough to know him, her father had come to be called Charles the Mad, given to unpredictable fits of insanity. The young princess lived a secluded life, awaiting her father’s sane moments and suffering through the mad ones, as her mother took up with her uncle and their futures became more and more uncertain. Katherine s fortunes appeared to be changing when, at nineteen, she was married to King Henry V of England. Within two years, she gave birth to an heir but her happiness was fleeting. Soon after the birth of her son, she lost her husband to an illness. With Joan of Arc inciting the French to overthrow English rule, Katherine s loyalty to her adopted homeland of England became a matter of intense suspicion. Katherine had brought her dowry and borne her heir; what use was she to England? It was decreed that she would live out her remaining years alone, far from the seat of power. But no one, not even Katherine herself, could have anticipated that she would fall in love with and secretly marry one of her guardians, Owen Tudor or that a generation later, their grandson would become the first king of the great Tudor dynasty.

The Reluctant Queen

In 1470, a reluctant Lady Anne Neville is betrothed by her father, the politically ambitious Earl of Warwick, to Edward, Prince of Wales. A gentle yet fiercely intelligent woman, Anne has already given her heart to the prince’s younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Unable to oppose her father s will, she finds herself in line for the throne of England an obligation that she does not want. Yet fate intervenes when Edward is killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Anne suddenly finds herself free to marry the man she loves and who loves her in return. The ceremony is held at Westminster Abbey, and the duke and duchess make a happy home at Middleham Castle, where both spent much of their childhood. Their life is idyllic, until the reigning king dies and a whirlwind of dynastic maneuvering leads to his children being declared illegitimate. Richard inherits the throne as King Richard III, and Anne is crowned queen consort, a destiny she thought she had successfully avoided. Her husband s reign lasts two years, two months, and two days and in that short time Anne witnesses the true toll that wearing the crown takes on Richard, the last king from the House of York.

William’s Wife / The Queen’s Devotion

A daughter’s love. A monarch s duty. On the road to greatness, one young woman must make an unthinkable choice. For Princess Mary, life has never been simple, but through it all the love of her father, the Duke of York, has been a constant and reliable comfort. Despite his own loyalty to the Catholic Church, the Duke and his brother, King Charles II, raised Mary as a Protestant to protect her in a time of religious and political upheaval. In order to cement this safety and to ensure the stability of the family line, at age fifteen, Mary is married to her Protestant first cousin William, Prince of Orange. However, in post Restoration England, matters are rarely so simply settled. When Mary s uncle, King Charles II, dies suddenly and without an heir, her beloved father is crowned James II. But a Catholic king is not the will of the people, and even Mary s own husband is crying out for change. Can Mary take part in actions that will ultimately remove her own father from the throne and endanger his life? With family loyalty and the will of a nation at odds, what choice can a young princess make? With emotional clarity and vivid historical detail, beloved author Jean Plaidy brings us into the court and behind the scenes as history unfolds and the young princess and her groom become William and Mary the legendary monarchs, and the only co regents in the history of a nation.

The Pleasures of Love / The Merry Monarch’s Wife

Charles II is restored to the English throne, and his court is lively and even scandalous. The country is eager for succession to be clear and certain: The next king will be the son of Charles II and his queen, Catherine of Braganza. Yet Catherine, daughter of the king of Portugal and a Catholic, has never been popular with the English people. She is also having great difficulty conceiving an heir, even as many of Charles’s well known mistresses are bearing his children with ease. Catherine is aware that courtiers close to Charles are asking him to divorce her and take another wife yet she is determined to hold her title in the face of all odds. The ninth novel in the beloved Queens of England series, The Merry Monarch s Wife brings Catherine of Braganza to life and plunges readers into the tumultuous world of Restoration England.

The Rose Without a Thorn

From the pen of legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy comes an unforgettable true story of royalty, passion, and innocence lost. Born into an impoverished branch of the noble Howard family, young Katherine is plucked from her home to live with her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk. The innocent girl quickly learns that her grandmother’s puritanism is not shared by Katherine s free spirited cousins, with whom she lives. Beautiful and impressionable, Katherine becomes involved in two ill fated love affairs before her sixteenth birthday. Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, she leaves her grandmother s home to become a lady in waiting at the court of Henry VIII. The royal palaces are exciting to a young girl from the country, and Katherine ?nds that her duties there allow her to be near her handsome cousin, Thomas Culpepper, whom she has loved since childhood. But when Katherine catches the eye of the aging and unhappily married king, she is forced to abandon her plans for a life with Thomas and marry King Henry. Overwhelmed by the change in her fortunes, bewildered and flattered by the adoration of her husband, Katherine is dazzled by the royal life. But her bliss is short lived as rumors of her wayward past come back to haunt her, and Katherine s destiny takes another, deadly, turn.

Daughter of Satan

Even Tamar’s mother believed that the child had been forced on her by the Devil when, against her judgement, she was persuaded to attend a midsummer sabbat of witches. In a world of superstition and intolerance, Tamar, growing into a wild and beautiful girl, seemed doomed to violent death when the witch-pricker came to Plymouth. Intelligent though untutored, she attracted the attentions of Bartle Cavill, the lusty gentleman-adventurer, home from the Spanish Main: moreover the puritan Humility Brown, was not unaware of her. These two men attracted her as she attracted them, but for different reasons representing as they did, the one passion, the other piety. Daughter of Satan is a moving and exciting novel of fanaticism and persecution, of witches and puritans, of a band of exiles who, because life was becomingly intolerable for them at home, were ready to cross and ocean to face storm and tempest, pirates and savages-even the Spanish inquisition-that they might seek refuge in a new land. From Old Plymouth to New Plymouth in search of a new life, came Tamar, the passionate pilgrim, the woman whom many believed to be the Daughter of Satan.

Lilith

Young heiress Amanda Leigh finds Lilith, the bold young housemaid, bold and exiting, but what she does not realize is that her new friend may actually be a relative.

Katharine of Aragon

For the first time in paperback all three of Jean Plaidy’s Katharine of Aragon novels in one volume. Legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy begins her tales of Henry VIII s queens with the story of his first wife, the Spanish princess Katharine of Aragon. As a teenager, Katharine leaves her beloved Spain, land of olive groves and soaring cathedrals, for the drab, rainy island of England. There she is married to the king s eldest son, Arthur, a sickly boy who dies six months after the wedding. Katharine is left a widow who was never truly a wife, lonely in a strange land, with a very bleak future. Her only hope of escape is to marry the king s second son, Prince Henry, now heir to the throne. Tall, athletic, handsome, a lover of poetry and music, Henry is all that Katharine could want in a husband. But their first son dies and, after many more pregnancies, only one child survives, a daughter. Disappointed by his lack of an heir, Henry s eye wanders, and he becomes enamored of another woman a country nobleman s daughter named Anne Boleyn. When Henry begins searching for ways to put aside his loyal first wife, Katharine must fight to remain Queen of England and to keep the husband she once loved so dearly.

Story of Elizabeth I

In this ‘memoir’ by Elizabeth I, legendary historical novelist Jean Plaidy reveals the Virgin Queen as she truly was: the bewildered, motherless child of an all powerful father; a captive in the Tower of London; a shrewd politician; a lover of the arts; and eventually, an icon of an era. It is the story of her improbable rise to power and the great triumphs of her reign the end of religious bloodshed, the settling of the New World, the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Brilliantly clever, a scholar with a ready wit, she was also vain, bold, and unpredictable, a queen who commanded and won absolute loyalty from those around her. But in these pages, in her own voice, Elizabeth also recounts the emotional turmoil of her life: the loneliness of power; the heartbreak of her lifelong love affair with Robert Dudley, whom she could never marry; and the terrible guilt of ordering the execution of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots. In this unforgettable novel, Elizabeth emerges as one of the most fascinating and controversial women in history, and as England’s greatest monarch. From the Trade Paperback edition.