Jean Plaidy- even
now the name conjures up warm, happy memories. Her novels were the first
grown-up books I read as a teenager, in common, I suspect, with many other
women of my age. It was her historical romances that gave me an abiding
interest in Henry VIII’s six wives with what to me is a real, passionate
understanding of each woman - I felt I knew each one personally. The first Jean
Plaidy I ever read was ‘Murder Most Royal’, about Anne Boleyn and Catherine
Howard, and I remember the painful pleasure I felt with each of Anne’s triumphs
as she became more powerful, even though I knew she was doomed. Catherine I
just felt so sorry for; she didn’t stand a chance against the scheming of her
greedy, selfish family; their total abandonment of her when she fell out of
favour was heartbreakingly poignant. But it was Anne I gave my heart to; the
book coloured my view of her so that to this day she is my favourite queen of
England ever. I don’t care that she was selfish, arrogant and sometimes even
cruel. She played the meagre hand she was dealt in life as a Tudor woman with subtle
skill and nearly won. If only Elizabeth (my second favourite queen) had been a
boy, her position in Henry’s court would have been unassailable.
After that I
was hooked and a visit to my local library was never complete without at least
one Jean Plaidy book in my hand. There was a time when I could name all the
Plantagenet kings and queens, all the Stuart kings and queens, and even knew
which Hanoverian George was mad/ fat/ completely German and only saw Britain as
a source of money. I remember writing about the Jean Plaidy books in my English
language ‘O’ level, and waxing lyrical about how it made me feel as though I
were transported back in time to each court. I often wonder what the examiner
reading my paper must have thought. Still, I got a ‘B’ grade (and of course in
those days, dear readers, as we know, the exams were much harder!) so I didn’t
do too badly. I looked JP up on Wikipedia (fantastic resource – the
novelist’s friend) and discovered that her real name was Eleanor Hibbert and
that she wrote more than
200 books, including murder mysteries and crime thrillers. I now feel totally
inadequate and so am signing off to try to complete my sixth novel. Only 194 to
go!
Jacqueline Farrell writes historical and paranormal romances
with The Wild Rose Press. Her two latest novels 'Sophronia and the Vampire' and 'Maids, Mothers and Crones' can be purchased from Amazon. Follow her on
twitter @jacquiefw1 and on her website www.jacquelinefarrell.co.uk
6 comments:
Thank you - you have just taken me back in time. I, too, was a Jean Plaidy reader. I specially remember Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry of Navarre. I also read her Victoria Holt gothic novels and the Philippa Carr series. I had no idea she wrote so many books, though. What an output!
Loved the Victoria Holt books too - I'm going to be talking about them next blog. I could never quite get into the Philippa Carr books though. I'm going to try and find some crime thrillers she apparently wrote too.
I loved Jean Plaidy and I also loved her Victoria Holt novels. Funnily enough, I never really took to the Phiippa Carr novels either.
I'm a Jean Plaidy fan and I actually really liked her Georgian series. I also liked Spain for the Sovereigns and Murder Most Royal but it's hard to choose as there are so many great one.
I still have all the Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr books - loved them! Couldn't get into the Jean Plaidy ones because I don't like books where I know how it's going to end :-)
Thanks for all the comments. I loved the Spanish series too; in fact all the foreign ones. It made me look really knowledgeable when I was doing a level history because it looked like I really understood all the foreign policies of those eras when really all I knew about was who married who! Still I impressed my history teacher for about a minute.
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