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The Queen's Favourites
The Queen's Favourites
Nov 13, 2025 4:35 PM

Author:Jean Plaidy

The Queen's Favourites

If you like Philippa Gregory, you will love this mesmerising historical novel from international multi-million copy bestseller Jean Plaidy. The Queen's Favourites follows the stories of the three women at the heart of the Stuart Court and the ever-changing power struggle that dominates their relationships with one another...

'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.' -- Sunday Times

'Full-blooded, dramatic, exciting.' -- Observer

'Outstanding' -- Vanity Fair

'I was gripped from the first page' -- ***** Reader review

'A riveting read' -- ***** Reader review

'Great story - could not put it' -- ***** Reader review

'Unputdownable!!' -- ***** Reader review

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It is the beginning of the eighteenth century and William of Orange is dying. Soon Anne is crowned Queen, but court insiders know that the power behind the sovereign is Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

Beautiful, outspoken Sarah controls Anne and believes herself to be invincible, until she installs her poor cousin Abigail Hill in court as royal chambermaid. Plain Abigail seems the least likely rival for Sarah's place in Anne's affections, but Sarah has underestimated her.

While Anne engages in her private battles, the nation is obsessed with another, more public one: succession. Anne is sickly and childless, the last of the Stuart line. Who will reign when she is gone?

Reviews

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.

—— Sunday Times

Full-blooded, dramatic, exciting.

—— Observer

Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama.

—— New York Times

Outstanding

—— Vanity Fair

Its poetic style and intriguing polt mean you are sure to be drawn in from the outset.

—— No.1

A wonderfully inspiring story about seeking and finding true happiness

—— Magazine 2000plus, Germany

What this novel does is so magnificent. One could say that this book has the power to unite us

—— TVA Television – Canada

[Serdar Ozkan] is already being mentioned together with Paulo Coelho, Richard Bach, and even Saint-Exupery.

—— Corriere della Sera, Italy

Grave and playful at the same time, beautifully written and moving

—— The Times

It's impossible to explain through any discussion of plot and character the hypnotic brilliance of The Cat's Table. The joy of boyhood and the darkness at its edges are conveyed in sense of extraordinary imagination... It is entirely...well, Ondaatje-esque

—— Kamila Shamsie , Guardian, Books of the Year

Vividly follows the passage from Ceylon to England of an 10 year-old boy on a line full of eccentric, mysterious passengers

—— Ann Saddlemyer , Irish Times, Books of the Year

Ondaatje's prose, flawless as ever, deals with loneliness, friendship and pre-pubescent love

—— Christine Dwyer Hickey , Irish Times, Books of the Year
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