It's been ages since I've mentioned Jean Plaidy here, hasn't it? Well, I'll make up for it a little tonight.
Last year, I wrote an article for the Historical Novel Society's Solander magazine about Crown's reissue of some of her novels. The article's now available on my website (with permission).
Second, I finally got hold of the first two volumes in Plaidy's French Revolution series: Louis the Well Beloved and The Road to Compiegne. (These have been reissued in the UK, but I have the old Pan paperback versions.) These two books are about Louis XV, grandfather of Louis XVI, and his many mistresses. I finished Louis the Well Beloved a few days ago and am about a third of the way through with The Road to Compiegne. I'm really enjoying them--it's a period of history I don't know much about, having encountered Louis XV only in his final days in various novels about Marie Antoinette, so they've been both entertaining and illuminating reads. They were also written fairly early in Plaidy's career; they don't have the rushed feel that some of the later novels do. After these are finished, if I can't find the third in the series, I may have to break down and get it from the UK.
5 comments:
I have quite a few Jean Plaidy novels but haven't read a one of them yet (they are on my never-ending "to read" list). I really need to put them closer to the top of the list -- but I keep buying books and some just keep getting pushed farther down.
I remember Jean Plaidy from my long lost youth, and decided to read "The Queen's Secret" depicting the life of Catherine of Valois last year. Although I thought the characterizations were a bit soft, it was a well told story.
"The Queen's Secret" was ultimately easy to read and relaxing. It was my introduction to that dashing young man Owen Tudor.
Thank you for writing about her - you encourage me to read more of her fiction.
That was a very interesting article. I don't think I've read Louis the Well-Beloved - must try and find a copy.
Susan, what is your favorite of Jean Plaidy's novels?
I have a hard time narrowing it down to a favorite. I enjoyed The Lady in the Tower and The Rose Without a Thorn (Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, who else?), and I also thought The Haunted Sisters and The Queen's Favorites were good. The Follies of the King is a sentimental favorite of mine, being the first novel I read about Edward II and the first Plaidy I read, but it's technically not one of her better works. Still, I liked it!
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