Eleanor Alice Burford

to the north of Royal Victoria Dock. , London's jewellery quarter and centre of the UK diamond trade. In the 1920s, Eleanor Hibbert worked for a jeweller in Hatton Garden, where she weighed gems and typed. , and named it ''King's Lodging''. , close to the Royal Albert Hall, London. Anglican church in Kensington Park Road, London. '' in 1993. (The ship is seen here in 1986 at Venice). Hibbert was born Eleanor Alice Burford on 1 September 1906 at 20 Burke Street, Canning Town, now part of the London borough of Newham. She inherited a love of reading from her father, Joseph Burford, a dock labourer. Her mother was Alice Louise Burford, née Tate. When she was quite young, ailing health forced her to be privately educated at home. At the age of 16 she went to a business college, where she studied shorthand, typewriting, and languages. She then worked for a jeweller in Hatton Garden where she weighed gems and typed. She also worked as a language interpreter in a café for French and German-speaking tourists. a wholesale leather merchant about twenty years older than herself, who shared her love of books and reading. During World War II, the Hibberts lived in a cottage in Cornwall that looked out over a bay called Plaidy Beach. Between 1974 and 1978, Eleanor Hibbert bought a 13th-century manor house in Sandwich, Kent, that she named ''King's Lodging'' because she believed that it had served previously as lodging for English monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Hibbert restored the house and furnished it opulently but soon found it too big for her taste and too far from London. In 1985, Hibbert sold ''King's Lodging''. Hibbert spent her summers in her cottage near Plaidy Beach in Cornwall. She sailed to Sydney aboard the cruise ship Oronsay in 1970, and the Canberra in 1978. Towards the end of her life, her eyesight started failing. Eleanor Hibbert died on 18 January 1993 on the cruise ship Sea Princess somewhere between Athens, Greece and Port Said, Egypt and was buried at sea. A memorial service was later held on 6 March 1993, at St Peter's Anglican Church, Kensington Park Road, London. ==Writing career==

Literary influences , London. View of the Great Gatehouse from the outside. Eleanor Hibbert grew up in London. She first discovered her fascination for the past when she visited Hampton Court in her teenage years. After her marriage, Hibbert achieved the financial independence she needed to realise her desire to write. London's monuments and royal personalities filled Hibbert's historical novels. She was also influenced by her regular visits to British historic homes and their architecture. During World War II, the Hibberts lived in Cornwall, whose pebble beaches, high cliffs and treacherous blue waters served as the setting for many of the Victoria Holt gothic novels. in 1978. In 1972, Hibbert travelled from Sydney to Melbourne via the Snowy Mountains and visited Hobart, Launceston, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. However, none of these was accepted for publication. At the same time, she wrote short stories for newspapers including the Daily Mail and Evening News. Some also appeared in The Star, Woman's Realm and Ladies' Home Journal. The turning point came when the fiction editor of the Daily Mail'' told her, "You're barking up the wrong tree: you must write something which is saleable, and the easiest way is to write romantic fiction." Hibbert read 50 romance novels as research and then published her first fiction book, Daughter of Anna, in 1941. It was a period novel set in Australia of the late 18th and 19th centuries. It was a moderate success and Hibbert received £30 as advance for it. The book was published under her maiden name, Eleanor Burford, which was also used for her contemporary novels. Following the success of the book, Hibbert was contracted by Herbert Jenkins publishers to write one book a year. By 1961 Hibbert had published 31 novels under this name, including ten romance novels for Mills & Boon. Pseudonyms , Cornwall In 1945, she chose the pseudonym Jean Plaidy for her new novel Together They Ride at the request of her agent. A total of 91 Jean Plaidy novels were published. Hibbert's last Jean Plaidy book, The Rose Without a Thorn, was published posthumously. (The Bed Disturbed, 1952) and Constance Kent (Such Bitter Business, 1953 – published in the U.S. in 1954 under the title Evil in the House). Between 1952 and 1960, Hibbert used the pseudonym Kathleen Kellow to write eight novels that were mostly crime and mystery fiction. From 1956 to 1961, she wrote five novels as Ellalice Tate, a pseudonym inspired by her mother's name, Alice Tate. In 1960, at the suggestion of her agent, Patricia Schartle Myrer, she wrote her first Gothic romance, Mistress of Mellyn, under the name Victoria Holt. The pseudonym was created by choosing the name Victoria for its regal, romantic ring while the name Holt was taken from the military bank of Holt & Company where Hibbert had an account. Published by Doubleday in the United States and Collins in the United Kingdom, Mistress of Mellyn became an instant international bestseller and revived the Gothic romantic suspense genre. Mistress of Mellyn was a clever weaving of elements from earlier Gothic novels such as Jane Eyre (1847), The Woman in White (1859), and Rebecca (1938). Its setting in Cornwall made the resemblance to Rebecca (1938) so remarkable that it was speculated that Victoria Holt was a pseudonym for Daphne du Maurier. Research Hibbert based her research on the writings of British historians such as John Speed, James Anthony Froude, Alexander Fraser Tytler and Agnes Strickland. The Kensington Central Library gave Hibbert special concessions to aid her research. She was allowed to go down to the vault where the out-of-circulation books were stored, and borrow them a trolley-load at a time. Jean Plaidy proved very popular in the United Kingdom, selling large quantities in paperback while Victoria Holt was a bestseller in the United States. Many of her readers never realized that behind all these pen names was a single author. Hibbert attributed her large output to her regular working habits. She described herself as a compulsive writer and would write all seven days in the week. She started every morning at the typewriter on her desk, usually completing five thousand words by lunchtime. Robert Hale published eight Kathleen Kellow crime and mystery novels between 1952 and 1960 in hardcover with dust jackets by Philip Gough. Robert Hale also published the sole book written under the Anna Percival pseudonym, The Brides of Lanlory. ==Eleanor Burford==

Romance novels The book The Love Child published in 1950 by Eleanor Burford must not be mistaken for the same-titled novel by Philippa Carr published in 1978 as part of the Daughters of England Series. Mills & Boon novels The Mary Stuart Queen of Scots Series • Royal Road to Fotheringay (1955) (later re-published under the Jean Plaidy name) ==Jean Plaidy==

Many Jean Plaidy books were published under different titles in the United States. Her trilogies were also later re-published as single books, often under different titles than those shown. Single novels Omnibus • Katharine of Aragon (omnibus of novels 2 – 4 in The Tudor Saga) • Catherine De Medici (1969) • Charles II (omnibus of novels 2 – 4 in The Stuart Saga) • Isabella and Ferdinand (1970) The Tudor Saga The Catherine De Medici Trilogy • Madame Serpent (1951) • The Italian Woman (1952) (a.k.a. The Unholy Woman) • Queen Jezebel (1953) The Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots Series • Royal Road to Fotheringay (1955) (first published as being by Eleanor Burford) • The Captive Queen of Scots (1963) The Stuart Saga The French Revolution Series • Louis the Well Beloved (1959) • The Road to Compiègne (1959) • Flaunting, Extravagant Queen (1957) The Lucrezia Borgia Series • Madonna of the Seven Hills (1958) • Light on Lucrezia (1958) The Isabella and Ferdinand Trilogy • Castile for Isabella (1960) • Spain for the Sovereigns (1960) • Daughters of Spain (1961) (a.k.a. Royal Sisters) The Georgian Saga The Queen Victoria Series The Norman Trilogy • The Bastard King (1974) • The Lion of Justice (1975) • The Passionate Enemies (1976) The Plantagenet Saga The Queens of England Series Children's novels • Meg Roper, daughter of Sir Thomas More (1961) • The Young Elizabeth (1961) • The Young Mary Queen of Scots (1962) The Spanish Inquisition Series (non-fiction) • The Rise of the Spanish Inquisition (1959) • The Growth of the Spanish Inquisition (1960) • The End of the Spanish Inquisition (1961) Historical non-fiction • A Triptych of Poisoners (1958) • Mary Queen of Scots: The Fair Devil of Scotland (1975) Reception and legacy 20th century Jean Plaidy historical novels were welcomed by readers who found them to be an easy way to gain insight into a sweeping panorama of European history. It was common for school girls in England to read these in history lessons, whilst hiding them behind their proper text books. In the last decade of the 20th century, historical fiction went out of fashion. Jean Plaidy titles went out of print. 21st century In October 2001, Rachel Kahan, associate editor at Crown Publishing Group, and Jean Plaidy fan since childhood, discovered that Jean Plaidy books had gone out of print in the United States. Kahan bought the reprint rights to ten Jean Plaidy novels. In April 2003, Crown chose to publish two books under the Three Rivers Press imprint, both featuring Henry VIII. The Lady in the Tower and The Rose Without a Thorn tell the story of two of his six wives, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, both of whom were beheaded. The books were published in paperback with new titles, modern covers and a readers' guide at the back. The first printing of 30,000 copies of each book sold out in 3 months. Based on this success, Crown's United Kingdom unit, Arrow Books, bought the entire Jean Plaidy backlist. Reprints Three Rivers Press editions In the Spring of 2003 Three Rivers Press, an imprint of U.S. publisher Crown Publishing Group, started republishing Jean Plaidy's stories. Three Rivers Press published some of the books with new titles which are listed here: • Mary, Queen of Scotland: The triumphant year (23 November 2004, ) previously published as Royal Road to Fotheringay (1955) by Eleanor Burford. • The Loves of Charles II (25 October 2005, ) is an omnibus that collects The Wandering Prince (1956), A Health Unto His Majesty (1956), and Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord (1957). • Loyal in Love (23 October 2007, ) previously published as Myself My Enemy (1983). • ''The Merry Monarch's Wife (22 January 2008, ) previously published as The Pleasures of Love'' (1991). • ''The Queen's Devotion (26 August 2008, ) previously published as William's Wife'' (1990). • To Hold the Crown (7 October 2008, ) previously published as Uneasy Lies the Head (1982). • ''The King's Confidante (7 April 2009, ) previously published as Saint Thomas' Eve'' (1954). • ''For a Queen's Love (2 March 2010, ) previously published as The Spanish Bridegroom'' (1954). • A Favorite of the Queen (2 March 2010, ) previously published as Gay Lord Robert (1955). == Elbur Ford ==

Some of these novels were re-published under the Jean Plaidy name. == Ellalice Tate ==

All these novels were later re-published under the Jean Plaidy name. ==Anna Percival==

• The Brides of Lanlory, 1960 == Victoria Holt ==

Single novels Anthologies in collaboration • "The Bride of Pendorric" in Three Great Romantic Stories (1972) (with Hebe Elsna and Lucy Walker) Reception and legacy 20th century Victoria Holt books proved popular with the reading public and many of them made it to bestseller lists. Hibbert won loyalty from large numbers of women readers who passed along their copies to the next generation of women in their family. Hibbert described her heroines as "women of integrity and strong character" who were "struggling for liberation, fighting for their own survival." Her 1960 novel Mistress of Mellyn single-handedly revived the Gothic romance genre. Victoria Holt novels became best-sellers. In 1970, when gothic mania was at its peak, The Secret Woman became one of the top 10 best-selling books in the United States. By 1975, a Victoria Holt paperback began with a first printing of 800,000 copies. By the early 1970s gothic novels outsold all other genres in paperback fiction, including mysteries, science fiction and Westerns. This coincided with consolidation within the publishing industry where paperbacks and hardcover publishers were brought together under the same corporate parent for the first time. More sophisticated marketing efforts led to placement in grocery and drugstore checkout aisles, where they found their target audience: educated, middle-class women with a reading habit. Hibbert's romance novels were clean; at the most the main characters exchanged smouldering looks of longing. However, by 1969 the sexual revolution had made explicit description more acceptable. In April 1972, the romance novel The Flame and the Flower took advantage of this change in trend and revolutionized the historical romance genre by detailing physical intimacy between the protagonists. Another such novel, Sweet Savage Love, that followed in 1974 cemented the trend. A new genre was thus born, dubbed the 'sweet savage romance' or the 'bodice ripper' because of the heaving, partly exposed bosom often pictured on the cover. Interest in Hibbert's clean romances declined. In 1976, a critic complained that Victoria Holt's heroines "must be a little bit dumb or they won't get themselves into such improbable messes in the first place." The next Victoria Holt novel, The Devil on Horseback (1977), was described as "from another era, sort of out of step with today's style." Critics judged the books as falling "short of her previous standards." By the early 1980s, Gothic romances were no longer as popular as a decade earlier. Readers demanded more sex and adventure in their romance novels. Publishers created paperback imprints like Silhouette and Candlelight Ecstasy simply to satisfy the enormous demand for "bodice rippers" and "hot historicals". Victoria Holt's heroines left the decorous drawing rooms of Victorian England to find adventure in far more exotic locations: inside an Egyptian pyramid (The Curse of the Kings, 1973); among Chinese antiques in Hong Kong (The House of a Thousand Lanterns, 1974); down the opal mines of Australia (The Pride of the Peacock, 1976); on a tea plantation in Ceylon (The Spring of the Tiger, 1979); among lush, tropical islands off the coast of Australia (The Road to Paradise Island, 1985); in Crimea with Florence Nightingale (Secret for a Nightingale, 1986); in mutiny-filled British India (The India Fan, 1988); in a Turkish nobleman's harem in Constantinople (The Captive, 1989); in the British colonies of South Africa (Snare of Serpents, 1990); and on a shipwreck in the South Sea Islands (The Black Opal, 1993). In 1993, Hibbert died. In the closing years of the 20th century, Victoria Holt titles were made available in large print, audiobook and Braille formats. Translations in several European languages, Russian, Hebrew, Persian, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese also appeared. 21st century In 2006, London publisher Harper reprinted four of Victoria Holt's most popular titles with new covers: Mistress of Mellyn (1961), The Shivering Sands (1969), The Shadow of the Lynx (1971) and ''The Time of the Hunter's Moon'' (1983). Foreign language translations in European languages, Japanese, Sinhalese and Thai were also published that year. ==Philippa Carr==

Daughters of England Series Single novels • Daughters of England (1995) == References ==