Courting Her Highness: The Story of Queen Anne A Novel of the Stuarts Book 2

While anne engages in her private tug-of-war, the nation is obsessed with another, more public battle: succession. Beautiful, outspoken sarah has bewitched Anne and believes she is invincible—until she installs her poor cousin Abigail Hill into court as royal chambermaid. Soon anne is crowned queen, but to court insiders, the name of the imminent sovereign is Sarah Churchill.

It is the beginning of the eighteenth century and William of Orange is dying. 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. 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.

Anne is sickly and childless, the last of the Stuart line. 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.


Royal Sisters: The Story of the Daughters of James II A Novel of the Stuarts Book 5

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. Passive queen mary is subservient to her husband's wishes, the queen-to-be, while Anne is desperate to please her childhood friend Sarah Churchill, a bold and domineering woman determined to subdue Anne, 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. 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, Mary's husband, the sisters support Protestant usurper William of Orange, who lusts after the British crown.

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The Murder in the Tower: The Story of Frances, Countess of Essex A Novel of the Stuarts Book 3

After attracting his attention by falling from a horse in the tiltyard, Robert rises quickly through the ranks. 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. The dashing robert Carr is a well-known favorite of King James I.

But when the cunning and beautiful Frances Howard comes to court, a very dangerous liaison changes everything. 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. 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.


The Three Crowns: The Story of William and Mary A Novel of the Stuarts Book 4

Because of this, james, duke of york, scotland, is heir-presumptive to the thrones of England, his brother, 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. When an empire is at stake, king charles ii has fathered numerous bastards, one woman stands between the past and the future In post-Restoration England, but not a single legitimate heir.

But can she follow her calling to rule britain without losing the love of her father? Captivating in its historical detail, and unforgettable in its dramatic depiction of relationships between monarchs and families, lush and sweeping in its scope, The Three Crowns is the singular story of the only joint sovereigns in British history.

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Royal Road to Fotheringhay: A Novel A Novel of the Stuarts Book 1

When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. 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 darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. But mary’s happiness was short-lived. Married in her teens to the dauphin François, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well.

Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, the Earl of Moray, a fire-and-brimstone Calvinist preacher, and by John Knox, including her illegitimate half brother, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a whore. She spoke only french and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians.

But mary’s flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. Once home, the queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. The haunting story of the beautiful—and tragic—mary, Queen of Scots, as only legendary novelist Jean Plaidy could write it Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old.

So mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. In haste, she married lord bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. Her husband, died after only two years on the throne, always sickly, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king.




The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katherine Parr A Novel of the Tudors Book 5

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. At court it was whispered that the king would soon execute yet another wife. Katherine parr was twice widowed and thirty-one years old. Henry’s sixth wife would have to rely on her wits to survive where two other women had perished.

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. 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.

She had hoped to marry for love and had set her heart on Thomas Seymour, the dashing brother of Henry’s third queen. Courtiers envious of the queen’s influence over Henry sought to destroy her by linking her with the “radical” religious reformers. A thoughtful, well-read lady, she was known at court for her unblemished reputation and her kind heart.

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. Henry viii’s fifth wife, katherine Howard, was both foolish and unfaithful, and she paid for it with her life. Henry raged that katherine had betrayed him, and had a warrant drawn up for her arrest and imprisonment.




The Loves of Charles II: The Stuart Saga A Novel of the Stuarts Book 7

From princesses to country girls to actresses…the loves of Charles II come to life. Ten years after charles i was deposed and executed, Charles II, his son, regains the throne after many years in exile. His other great love, is nell gwyn, and louise’s rival, a stage actress who rises from the streets of London to become the king’s favorite and a hero of the working class.

Court intrigue and affairs of the heart weave together in this unforgettable page-turner. As king, charles ii throws himself into the gaiety of court life, becoming a patron of the arts and a consummate lover of women. For many years, his “untitled queen” is a bold and sensual older woman—Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine—whose husband is routinely paid to look the other way.

Charles is determined not only to restore the monarchy but also to revive a society that has suffered under many years of Puritan rule, when everything from theater to Christmas festivals was illegal. He first secures a strong dynastic alliance by marrying Catherine of Braganza, plain Portuguese princess who falls in love with her handsome husband and brings him great wealth, a shy, but can never give him the son he longs for.

. But when the politically ambitious lady castlemaine becomes too powerful, she is replaced by Louise de Kéroualle, a baby-faced French noblewoman who may have been sent to Charles’s court as a spy.


The Courts of Love: The Story of Eleanor of Aquitaine Queens of England Book 5

When eleanor met the magnetic henry ii, their stormy pairing set great change in motion—and produced many sons and daughters, the first Plantagenet King of England, two of whom would one day reign in their own right. In this majestic and sweeping story, intrigue, and strife, betrayal, set against a backdrop of medieval politics, Jean Plaidy weaves a tapestry of love, passion, 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.

. In 1137, eleanor became duchess of Aquitaine, at the age of fifteen, the richest province in Europe. 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. 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 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.

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.


The Captive Queen of Scots: Mary, Queen of Scots A Novel of the Stuarts Book 6

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. Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama. The new york times“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.

. Set against royal pageantry, religious strife, passion, heartbreak, and bloody uprising—and filled with conspiracies, and fascinating historical detail—The Captive Queen of Scots is an unforgettable tale of the intense rivalry between two powerful women of noble blood.  . 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. After her husband, lord darnley, suspicion falls on Mary and her lover, is murdered, the Earl of Bothwell.


Three Maids for a Crown: A Novel of the Grey Sisters

In an age in which begetting sons was all that mattered and queens rose and fell on the sex of their child, these three girls with royal Tudor blood lived under the dangerous whims of parents with a passion for gambling. The stakes they would wager: their daughters' lives against rampant ambition. Her beautiful middle sister, Lady Katherine Grey charms all the right people, until a scandalous love affair causes loyalties to shift.

The grey sisters experience love, triumph, and tragedy in Tudor England in the second novel from Ella March Chase. Sixteen-year-old jane grey—the “nine-Day Queen”—is a quiet and obedient young lady destined to become the shortest reigning English monarch. And finally, lady mary grey is a dwarf with a twisted spine whose goal is simply to protect the people she loves—but at a terrible cost.

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For a Queen's Love: The Stories of the Royal Wives of Philip II A Novel of the Tudors Book 8

And finally, marriage again to a young bride Philip stole from his unbalanced son, sowing the seeds of brutal murder. 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.

Power-hungry monarch, obsessive monster—who could love such a man?          set against the glittering courts of sixteenth-century Europe, cold-blooded murderer, 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.

His first marriage, brought him tragedy and a troublesome son, a romantic union with childlike Maria Manoela, Don Carlos. But history is seldom what it seems, and in the hands of beloved author Jean Plaidy, murderer, we hear another side to the story of Philip II—the most powerful of kings who was at once fanatic, father, husband, and lover.

Philip was a dark and troubled man, who, like many royals, had been robbed of his childhood.