Jean Plaidy, by the skilful blending of superb storytelling and meticulous attention to authenticity of detail and depth of characterisation has become one of the country's most widely read novelists.

Georgette Heyer is unbeatable

My favourite novelist

His fierce love for his mother warring with the need to follow his own desires - analysed with a vigorous relentlessness and pungent imagery - makes this a work whose power stands the test of time

When I was 13 or 14 this was the book I couldn't put down. It's very good teenager territory

His ability to live and write on the hoof never ceases to amaze

Lawrence is tremendously exciting . . . we were all influenced by Lawrence, including the poetry, which is wonderful, and is probably still not enough liked, partly because people call him sexist. He's much more complicated

Lawrence is elegant yet passionate and his imagery is second to none

Rare...exquisite...a cameo-like perfection

Speaks volumes about heroism and the human condition... A taut, page-turning narrative

Ingenious