“This is the last night of the year and I have sat here alone by the fire while my dear husband is out and about, and in thinking over how much has happened in the last twelve months I have resolved to keep a journal, and it will be private.” THE JOURNAL OF MRS PEPYS: Portrait of a Marriage by… Read more »
The Merry Monarch’s Wife previously titled The Pleasures of Love by Jean Plaidy ‘But when I consider the truth of her heart Such an innocent passion, so kind, without art I fear I have wronged her, and hope she may be So full of true love to be jealous of me O, then ’tis I think no joys are above… Read more »
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor Forever Amber is a staple of classic historical fiction, along with Katherine by Anya Seton, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell—yet is set apart by its brow-raising protagonist. While Amber was not by any means a great, admirable woman, the background of this story and its amazingly accurate… Read more »
The Countess and the King by Susan Holloway Scott Katherine Sedley is not a well-known name even among history lovers, but a closer look reveals a lady of wit who had the ironic position of being the Catholic King James II’s Protestant mistress. Because her mother was emotionally unstable, Katherine was raised by servants and began accompanying her father, Sir… Read more »
Dark Angels by Karleen Koen When her affianced suddenly married one of her closest friends, lady-in-waiting Alice Verney traveled to France to serve Charles II’s sister, Henriette–married toMonsieur, Louis XIV’s brother, and known asMadame in the French court. Leaving Queen Catherine and her homeland, she found great consolation in waiting upon her new mistress, but even this was soon to… Read more »
Rochester, the Mad Earl by Kathleen Kellow The adventures and exploits of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, are resurrected in this 1957 novel by Jean Plaidy, under one of her lesser-known pseudonyms—Kathleen Kellow. Rochester’s father, Henry Wilmot, was responsible for cutting the Roundhead-pursued Charles II’s curls, helping him escape the country incognito during Cromwell’s rule. The 1st Earl of… Read more »