Eleanor Burford / Hibbert books

Anthologies

Catherine De Medici Reading Order

Daughters Of England Reading Order

Famous Childhoods Reading Order

French Revolution Reading Order

Georgian Saga Reading Order

Isabella & Ferdinand Reading Order

Lucrezia Borgia Reading Order

Mary Stuart, Queen Of Scots Reading Order

Non-Fiction

Norman Trilogy Reading Order

Plantagenet Saga Reading Order

Queen Victoria Reading Order

Queens Of England Reading Order

Standalone Novels

Stuart Saga Reading Order

Tudor Saga Reading Order

Eleanor Burford Hibbert was born in London in 1906 and became one of the most prolific and widely read novelists of the twentieth century. She published her first novel, Daughter of Anna, in 1940 under her birth name, but it was her pen names that made her famous. As Jean Plaidy, she wrote dozens of historical novels covering European royalty from the Plantagenets through Queen Victoria. As Victoria Holt, she created gothic romance novels set in brooding country houses and exotic locations, with Mistress of Mellyn (1960) and Bride of Pendorric (1963) among the best known. As Philippa Carr, she wrote the twenty-book Daughters of England series, following one family across centuries of English history.

Her Jean Plaidy novels are organized into several connected sagas. The Tudor Saga covers the reign of Henry VIII and his successors. The Stuart Saga follows the restoration of the English monarchy. The Georgian Saga traces the Hanoverian kings and queens. The Plantagenet Saga reaches back to the medieval period, while the Queens of England series retells history through the first-person voices of famous consorts and rulers.

Beyond British history, she wrote about the Italian Renaissance in the Lucrezia Borgia and Catherine de Medici series, the Spanish monarchy in Isabella & Ferdinand, and the French court in her French Revolution trilogy. She also wrote non-fiction, including a three-volume history of the Spanish Inquisition. Her Victoria Holt gothic novels appear under Standalone Novels, since each is an independent story. Hibbert died in 1993 during a cruise, leaving behind a body of work that continues to attract readers who enjoy richly detailed historical fiction.