in the shadow of the crown by jean plaidy

The almost-forgotten princess was now Queen of England. Then one morning, at the age of eighteen, Princess Victoria awoke to the news of her uncle William's death.

A strong, willful child, Victoria was determined not to be stifled by her powerful uncles or her unpopular, controlling mother. She and her mother lived in genteel poverty for most of her childhood, exiled from court because of her mother's dislike of her uncles, George IV and William IV. At birth, Princess Victoria was fourth in line for the throne of England, the often-overlooked daughter of a prince who died shortly after her birth.

Themain characters in this unusual novel are not only vivid but convincing.There is the gay and amorous Marcus, vain Kitty, bawdy Margery and sweetKatharine there is Masterman who, for love of Carolan, forgets he isambitious and a Puritan the pious Esther, and Carolan herself-these andmany others, living in a world of crime and horror, dirt and luxury, crueltyand indifference are all reaching out hopefully to better times beyond thesymbolic Blue Mountains.In this unforgettable novel of Queen Victoria, Jean Plaidy re-creates a remarkable life filled with romance, triumph, and tragedy. Having survived thejourney and been taken to the house of Materman of Sydney, Carolan findsthat her experiences have changed her from an innocent girl to a ruthlesswoman, determined to establish herself in the Masterman household, and hermethod of doing so is such as will haunt her for the rest of her life. The profligacy, perversion,vice and cruelty of that age are forcefully recreated. Kitty Kennedy loses her lover before Carolan is born Katharine, Carolan's child, chooses what must inevitably be a life ofdanger but it is Carolan, sensitive and proud, bold and reckless, who mustsuffer most deeply and who is the central figure around whom events revolve.Her adventures in the East End, in Newgate Jail and in the foul women'squarters on the prison ship transporting her to Australia are told withterrible clarity and a powerful imagination.

This is a story set against a late eighteenth and early nineteenth centurybackground, telling how the evils of their time affected the lives of threegenerations of women.

In the shadow of the crown by jean plaidy