Eleanor Alice Burford
Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 01, 1906 Kensington, London (England, United Kingdom)  |
| Died | January 08, 1993 |
| Pen name | Eleanor Burford, Jean Plaidy, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, Anna Percival, Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | (England, United Kingdom) |
| Period | 1941 - 1993 |
| Genre | Romance, Fantasy, Suspense |
Eleanor Alice Burford (September 01, 1906 - January 08, 1993), Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Philippa Carr and Victoria Holt . Even lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under the pseudonyms of Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
Biography
Eleanor Alice Burford was born in September 01, 1906 -- not in a romantic manor house, or even on a windswept Cornish moor, but in the prosaic, South London suburb of Kensington. Her father, Joseph Burford, was something of an odd-job-man, with no steady profession, but he quickly passed on his great love of books to his young daughter. She was an avid reader from the age of four onwards.
She was also captivated by the city of her birth. "I consider myself extremely lucky to have been born and raised in London," she later wrote," and to have had on my doorstep this most fascinating of cities with so many relics of 2000 years of history still to be found in its streets. One of my greatest pleasures was, and still is, exploring London. Circumstances arose which brought my school life to an abrupt termination, and I went hastily to a business college where I studied shorthand, typewriting and languages. And so I had to set about the business of earning a living.
In her early twenties, she married a leather merchant, George Hibbert (she was his second wife), who shared her love of books and reading. "I found that married life gave me the necessary freedom to follow an ambition which had been with me since childhood; and so I started to write in earnest."
At first, she tried to emulate her literary heroes -- the Brontes, George Eliot, Dickens, Victor Hugo and Tolstoy -- and during the 1930s she completed nine long novels, all of them serious, psychological studies of contemporary life. However, none of these were accepted for publication.
Bibliography
As Eleanor Buford
Daughter of Anna 1941
Passionate witness 1941
The married lover 1942
When the entire world is young 1943
So the dreams depart 1944
Not in our stars 1945
Dear chance 1947
Alexa 1948
The house at Cupid's cross 1949
Believe the heart 1950
The love child* 1950
Saint or sinner 1951
Bright tomorrow 1952
Dear delusion 1952
Leave me my love 1953
When We are married 1953
Castiles in Spain 1954
Heart's afire 1954
Two loves in her life 1955
When other hearts 1955
Gay Lord Robert 1955
Royal Road to Fotheringhay 1955
Begin to live 1956
Married in haste 1956
To meet a stranger 1957
Blaze of noon 1958
Pride in the morning 1958
The dawn chorus 1959
Red sky at night 1959
Night of stars 1960
Now that april's gone 1961
Who's calling 1962
As Jean Plaidy
Books written under the Plaidy pseudonym are almost all about English history, and all of the Plaidy books, except those listed under "Novels," deal with real historical figures.
The books listed are by series. The series are arranged chronologically by the eras they cover.
- Note: This does not represent a complete list of Jean Plaidy's work.
The Norman Trilogy
The Bastard King, 1974
The Lion of Justice, 1975
The Passionate Enemies, 1976
The Plantagenet Saga
1. The Plantagenet Prelude, 1976
2. The Revolt of Eaglets, 1977
3. The Heart of the Lion, 1977
4. The Prince of Darkness, 1978
5. The Battle of the Queens, 1978
6. The Queen from Provence, 1979
7. Hammer of the Scots (Edward Longshanks), 1979
8. The Follies of the King, 1980
9. The Vow on the Heron, 1980
10. Passage to Pontefract, 1981
11. The Star of Lancaster
12. Epitaph for Three Women, 1981
13. Red Rose of Anjou
14. The Sun in Splendor
The Tudor Novels
1. Uneasy Lies the Head, 1982
2. Katharine, The Virgin Widow, 1961
3. The Shadow of the Pomegranate, 1962
4. The King's Secret Matter, 1962
5. Murder Most Royal, 1949
6. St. Thomas' Eve, 1954
7. The Sixth Wife, 1953
8. The Thistle and the Rose, 1963
9. Mary, Queen of France
10. The Spanish Bridegroom, 1954
11. Gay Lord Robert, 1955
The Mary, Queen of Scots Series
Royal Road to Fotheringay, 1955
The Captive Queen of Scots, 1963
The Stuart Saga
1. The Murder in the Tower, 1964
2. The Wandering Prince, 1956
3. A Health Unto His Majesty, 1956
4. Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord, 1957
5. The Three Crowns, 1965
6. The Haunted Sisters, 1966
7. The Queen's Favorites, 1966
The Georgian Saga
1. The Princess of Celle, 1967
2. Queen in Waiting, 1967
3. Caroline, The Queen, 1968
4. The Prince and the Quakeress, 1968
5. The Third George, 1969
6. Perdita's Prince, 1969
7. Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill, 1970
8. Indescretions of the Queen, 1970
9. The Regent's Daughter, 1971
10. Goddess of the Green Room, 1971
11. Victoria in the Wings, 1972
The Queen Victoria Series
The Captive of Kensington Palace, 1972
The Queen and Lord M, 1973
The Queen's Husband, 1973
The Widow of Windsor, 1974
The Queens of England Series
1. Myself the Enemy (Henrietta Maria), 1983
2. Queen of this Realm (Elizabeth I), 1984
3. Victoria Victorious (Victoria), 1985
4. The Lady in the Tower (Anne Boleyn), 1986
5. The Courts of Love (Eleanor of Aquitaine), 1987
6. In the Shadow of the Crown (Mary Tudor), 1988
7. The Queen's Secret (Katherine of Valois), 1989
8. The Reluctant Queen (Anne Neville), 1990
9. The Pleasures of Love (Catherine of Braganza), 1991
10. William's Wife (Mary II), 1993
11. The Rose Without a Thorn (Catherine Howard), 1993
Non-English History
The Ferdinand and Isabella Trilogy
Castile for Isabella
Spain for the Soverigns
Daughter of Spain 1961
The Lucrezia Borgia Series
Madonna of the Seven Hills, 1958
Light on Lucrezia, 1958
The Medici Trilogy
Madame Serpent, 1951
The Italian Woman, 1952
Queen Jezebel, 1953
Henri of Navarre
Evergreen Gallant, 1963
The French Revolution Series
Louis the Well-Beloved
The Road to Compiegne, 1959
Flaunting, Extravagant Queen, 1957
Milady Charlotte, 1959
As Elbur Ford
Poison in pimlico 1950
The flesh and the devil 1950
Bed disturbed 1952
Such bitter business 1953
Evil in the house* 1953
As Kathleen Kellow
Danse macabre 1952
Rooms at Mrs. Oliver's 1953
Lilith* 1954
It began in Vauxhall Gardens* 1955
Call of the blood 1956
Rochester, the mad earl 1957
Milady Charlotte* 1959
The world's a stage 1960
Ellalice Tate
Defenders of the Faith* 1956
The scarlet cloak* 1957
The queen of diamonds* 1958
Madame du Barry* 1959
This was a man 1961
Anna Percival
Brides of Lanlory 1960
As Victoria Holt
The books written under the name Victoria Holt were gothic romances set primarily within the Victorian era whose various settings spanned the 19th century British Empire.
1. Mistress of Mellyn, 1960
2. Kirkland Revels, 1962
3. Bride of Pendorric, (setting: 1960) 1963
4. The Legend of the Seventh Virgin, 1964-5
5. Menfreya in the Morning, 1966
6. The King of the Castle, 1967
7. The Queen's Confession, (fictional memoirs of Marie Antoinette) 1968
8. The Shivering Sands, 1969
9. The Secret Woman, 1970
10. The Shadow of the Lynx, 1971
11. On the Night of the Seventh Moon, 1972
12. The Curse of the Kings, 1973
13. The House of a Thousand Lanterns, 1974
14. Lord of the Far Island, 1975
15. The Pride of the Peacock, 1976
16. The Devil on Horseback, (set during the French Revolution) 1977
17. My Enemy the Queen, 1978 (fictional memoirs of Lettice Knollys)
18. The Spring of the Tiger, 1979
19. The Mask of the Enchantress, 1980
20. The Judas Kiss, 1981
21. The Demon Lover, 1982
22. The Time of the Hunter's Moon, 1983
23. The Landower Legacy, 1984
24. The Road to Paradise Island, (partially set in the late eighteenth century) 1985
25. Secret for a Nightingale, 1986
26. The Silk Vendetta , 1987
27. The India Fan, 1988
28. The Captive, 1989
29. Snare of Serpents, 1990
30. Daughter of Deceit, 1991
31. Seven for a Secret, 1992
32. The Black Opal, 1993 (published posthumously)
As Philippa Carr
The books published under the Carr pen name were a series of fictional journals kept by the women of one family. The series begins with "The Miracle at St. Bruno's," which is set during the English Reformation, and ends with "We'll Meet Again," set during World War Two.
The books are Romantic Suspense, the heroines have to solve a mystery before they can find happiness with the hero.
"Daughters of England," was published posthumously and is unconnected to the other Carr books.
The novels written as Philippa Carr are family sagas.
1. The Miracle at St. Bruno's, 1972
2. The Lion Triumphant, 1974
3. The Witch From the Sea, 1975
4. Saraband for Two Sisters, 1976
5. Lament for a Lost Lover, 1977
6. The Love Child, 1978
7. The Song of the Siren, 1979
8. Will You Love Me in September?, 1981
9. The Adulteress, 1982
10. Knave of Hearts, 1983
11. Voices in a Haunted Room, 1984
12. The Return on the Gypsy, 1985
13. Midsummers' Eve, 1986
14. The Pool of St. Branock, 1987
15. The Changeling, 1989
16. The Black Swan, 1990
17. A Time for Silence, 1991
18. The Gossamer Cord, 1992
19. We'll Meet Again, 1993
Unconnected Carr novel: Daughters of England, 1995
Other Works
Novels
Beyond the Blue Mountains, 1948
The Goldsmith's Wife, 1950
Lilith, 1954
Melisande (It Began in Vauxhall Gardens), 1955
Defenders of the Faith
Daughter of Satan, 1952
The Scarlet Cloak, 1957
Madame du Barry
Non-Fiction
Mary Queen of Scots: The Fair Devil of Scotland
A Triptych of Poisoners (Cesare Borgia, Madame de Brinvilliers, and Dr. Pritchard)
The Rise of the Spanish Inquisition
The Growth of the Spanish Inquisition
The End of the Spanish Inquisition
Children's Books
The Young Elizabeth, 1961
The Young Mary Queen of Scots
links
Eleanor Hibbert, Biography & Booklists