She died on January 18, 1993, aboard a cruise ship between Greece and Egypt. Eleanor spent her winters away from England, sailing around the world, and incorporating the exotic locations into her novels. She read 50 romance novels as research, then published her first book, Daughter of Anna, in 1941, received an advance of £30. She was told to try her hand at romance novels, which were easier to sell. During the 1930s she wrote 9 long novels, all of which were rejected by publishers. In her early twenties, she married George Percival Hibbert, a leather merchant 20 years her senior. It is hoped that St Martins will be reissuing many of Holts novels for our renewed enjoyment. Her novels sold more than 100 million copies in 20 languages, and in 1989 she was awarded the Gold Treasure from the Romance Writers of America for her significant contributions to the genre. Mistress of Mellyn reads as suspenseful and enjoyable today as it did more than 40 years ago. Eleanor Alice Hibbert was a wildly successful English romance author who published more than 200 books under at least 8 separate pseudonyms, including Jean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, and Philippa Carr.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |