The Loves of Charles II: The Stuart Saga

by Jean Plaidy

Book Overview

From princesses to country girls to actresses...the loves of Charles II come to life. Ten years after Charles I was deposed and executed, his son, Charles II, regains the throne after many years in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140008248X
• ISBN13: 9781400082483
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 768 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Newer edition of an older saga

I have read the original Stuart Saga by Jean plaidy. Especially 'Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord' would have the same story base as this one. It might have been re-published which would explain typographical errors that the other reviewer mentions. I love Charles II for all his faults. He was the last King who really was in charge. If anything at all is a fault with him, he loved too well. After him, English monarchy lost its power - as House of Hanover came into picture - as the parliament grew in its place instead.

Good stuff that still needs better proofreading!

I have been reading Jean Plaidy's older works, starting with "The Bastard King," in their original printing from about 1970. There were many typographical errors in those older editions. Sadly it appears that the publisher of her newer editions (released in trade paperback format with updated cover art) has simply re-set the existing text without proofreading. This book is actually three of Plaidy's former novels bound together into one book, since they all deal with Charles II and his reign. The first book (regarding his exile and time spent attempting to regain the kingship) had no typos that I noticed. However, towards the middle of the second book several obvious ones crept into the text: "he wanted to keen on the King's good side," "she was leased to see him," and so forth. These became more frequent towards the end of the second book and occurred fairly regularly throughout the third book. In addition the third book had some fairly glaring typos of a worse type: "She wanted to go I hawking that afternoon..." "Buckingham .e was fuming at this treatment..." Overall it feels like the proofreader started off at the beginning of the book with a glass of wine and ended by finishing a few bottles. The book is slipshod in this respect and this is why I give only 4 stars. As to content and writing style, this is all very much typical Plaidy and succeeded in keeping me interested in most of the characters. I've never noted Plaidy to make a serious biographical error before, but in this book she cites "Monsieur D'Artagnan" being in command of Louis XIV's forces in a battle, and D'Artagnan is a wholly fictional character. I believe that in writing historical fiction, the people and known circumstances should be kept as accurate as possible, but known fictional elements should not be introduced into the story, and so this mention of Dumas' D'Artagnan struck a very false note with me. However, it was good reading; it kept me entertained and painted a good portrait of the Merry Monarch. Recommended, and Plaidy has redeemed herself by not continuing to portray male rulers as male monsters (see my reviews of The Lady in the Tower and Victoria Victorious for more commentary on this).