Jean Plaidy

One of history's most complex and alluring women, Anne Boleyn was irresistible to kings and commoners alike....

Scotland has been torn apart by civil war, and the young and passionate Catholic Mary Queen of Scots is in the hands of her enemies....

In the eyes of the world, Katharine of Aragon was a precious object to be disposed of for the glory of Spain....

Fifteenth-century Spain is rent with intrigue and threatened by civil war. Here, the young Isabella becomes a virtual prisoner at the court of her half-brother, Henry IV....

When Henry VI becomes king, it is soon clear that he would be more suited to a quiet life....

The news of Henry III's death reached his son Edward on the long road home from the Holy Land. Now he was England's king and a man fit for his destiny....

The young Princess Victoria, strictly confined within the boundaries of Kensington Palace, is being moulded for her awesome future as Queen of England....

Married to Ferdinand after numerous fears and disappointments, Isabella triumphs over every danger, convinced of her own destiny....

The death of The Conqueror left three sons to inherit his power and his wealth....

Victoria and Albert have been destined for one another since birth....

William the Conqueror is destined to succeed his father as the Duke of Normandy but questions about his legitimacy mean he consistently faces challenges from potential usurpers in the Duchy to retain the title....

News of Thomas à Becket’s martyrdom has spread throughout Christendom....

Albert is dead....

On the morning of 20 June 1837, an 18-year-old girl is called from her bed to be told that she is Queen of England....

Princess Mary Rose is the youngest sister of King Henry VIII, and one of the few people whom he adores unconditionally....

Widowed at 18 years old, Mary is once again forced to leave her home to return to Scotland. Now a Catholic queen in a Protestant country, Mary must rule with caution and choose her next husband prudently....

In a castle in the mountains outside Rome, Lucrezia Borgia is born into history's most notorious family....

At the age of 15, Marie Antoinette, beautiful and charming bride to the impotent Dauphin, is plunged into the intrigue of Versailles....

No longer the well-beloved, Louis XV is becoming ever more unpopular - the huge expense of his court and decades of costly warfare having taken their toll....

France eagerly awaits the day the young king, Louis XV, comes of age and breaks free from the rule of his ministers....