Helen Plum Library

"Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive the vipers of court life with...

This compelling, centuries spanning novel brilliantly interweaves the lives of two women, a writer working in the heart of modern academia and a daring young Sioux Indian on an incredible journey in the eighteenth century. The result is an unforgettable story of courage in the face of the unknown

"Lady in Waiting brought us royal magic, beguiling insight, and jaw-dropping stories from life inside Anne Glenconner's privileged circle, which though golden didn't always glitter. As she revealed in her memoir, it has been one of stark contrasts--from growing up in the splendor of Holkham Hall to living in a tent in the jungle of Mustique, from traveling the world with Princess Margaret to coping with her wildly unpredictable husband Lord Glenconner....

"Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir tells the tragic story of Henry VIII's fifth wife, a nineteen-year-old beauty with a hidden past, in this fifth novel in the sweeping Six Tudor Queens series. In the spring of 1540, Henry VIII, desperate to be rid of his queen, Anna of Kleve, first sets eyes on the enchanting Katheryn Howard. Although the king is now an ailing forty-nine-year-old measuring fifty-four inches around his waist,...

"Bestselling author and acclaimed historian Alison Weir brings her Tudor Queens series to a close with the remarkable story of Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, who manages to survive him and remarry, only to be thrown into a romantic intrigue that threatens the very throne of England. Having sent his much-beloved but deceitful young wife Katheryn Howard to her beheading, King Henry fixes his lonely eyes on a more mature woman, thirty-year-old, twice-widowed...

"From the winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize, an extraordinary story of the meteoric rise and fall of King James I's favorite, George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham"-- Provided by publisher

"For the better part of the Queen Marie Antoinette's reign over France, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Marie Antoinette's Head tells the story of Leonard Autie, Marie Antoinette's hairdresser and confidante, the man responsible for the style that made her the envy of France and for the uproar that dragged her to the guillotine."-- Provided by publisher

The little-known story of two spirited sisters who flaunted every social convention of 17th century Europe in their determination to live independently

Examines the life of Henry VII's right-hand man, who did everything he could to secure the future of a son he loved dearly, but who ultimately could not control the unpredictable monarch

An Elizabethan expert describes the court of Queen Elizabeth I, painting a vivid picture of the gossip, conspiracy, intrigue, and romantic dalliances that surrounded the monarch and the daily lives of the women that attended her Queen Elizabeth I acceded to the throne in 1558, restoring the Protestant faith to England. At the heart of the new queen's court lay her bedchamber, closely guarded by the favored women who helped her dress, looked after...