Royal Road to Fotheringay - Jean Plaidy

*** The Author *** Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert, the daughter of a London odd-job-man, lived between 1906-1993. When she first started writing she used her maiden name of Eleanor Burford. Later, using the pen name of Jean Plaidy, she was a prolific writer of historical fiction. Her other pseudonyms were Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, Anna Percival, Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr. In trying to find out just how productive a writer she was, I found over 100 titles under the name of Jean Plaidy alone. She said that researching and writing her books was like a drug to her. She felt ... more

I have already written a review on Jean Plaidy´s second novel of Mary, Queen of Scots, The Captive Queen of Scots which covers her capture to eventual beahading at the hands of Elizabeth I in Fotheringay castle. This is the first of the Mary books, and equally enthralling as I find all Jean Plaidy´s novels to be. The book recounts Mary´s charmed childhood in the French court as fiancee of the Dauhin, Francis. The beautiful castles and oppulant lifestile of the french court spring from the pages, and as always, Jean Plaidy writes as close to the historical truth as any I have known. When a ... more