My Friday Post: Saint Thomas’s Eve by Jean Plaidy

/ Margaret

Book Beginnings Button

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

This week’s book is St Thomas’s Eve by Jean Plaidy, one of my TBRs that I’ve only just started to read. It’s the sixth in her Tudor Saga, telling the story of Sir Thomas More and his ambitious daughters.

Saint Thomas's Eve: (Tudor Saga) by [Plaidy, Jean]

It begins:

‘And who is this man who dares oppose us?’ demanded the King. ‘Who is this Thomas More? Eh? Answer me that.’

I like this opening, setting the scene with an angry King (Henry VII) as he questions the identity of Thomas More who had refused to grant him the money he wanted.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice.

30879-friday2b56These are the rules:

  1. Grab a book, any book.
  2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.
  3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
  4. Post it.
  5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 56:

The King was dead. And fear had died with him.

A new King had come to the throne – a boy not yet eighteen. He was quite different from his father; there was nothing parsimonious about him, and the people looked forward to a great and glorious reign. The household of Thomas More need not now consider uprooting itself.

Blurb (Amazon):

Henry VII once warned his son, the future King of England, not to trust Thomas More; years later that same son made More his confidante and advisor. But the allegiance is dangerously one-sided. A family man, lawyer and writer, More’s ambitions are humble, whilst Henry’s are endless.

As More’s career at court rises so too does his religious fervour, much to the concern of his eldest daughter, Margaret More. Meg, as she is fondly called, is torn between her heretic husband and the secrets her father has confided in her, and already fears that one day her father will make the ultimate sacrifice for his faith.

~~~

Jean Plaidy is the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, also known as Victoria Holt. I read many of Jean Plaidy’s books years ago, but I’m sure I haven’t read all of them. I just read all I could find in my local library. So, I may have read this years ago but I don’t remember it now. Although I know quite a lot about Thomas More from other books and films, when I saw this book in a secondhand book sale I just had to buy it, if only to see if I still love Jean Plaidy’s books as much now as I did years ago.

Will it live up to my expectations, I wonder? If you’ve read this or any of Jean Plaidy’s books what do you think?

11 thoughts on “My Friday Post: Saint Thomas’s Eve by Jean Plaidy”

  2. This does sound good, Margaret. I do like when historical fiction brings things down to the human level – to the people who lived it. And that’s a fascinating period of history, too. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

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  3. I’ve not read any of the Jean Plaidy books. I wasn’t really into historical type books like this even way back in the time they were written. Now her Victoria Holt books – I think I read almost all of them. I loved the Gothic suspense type books. I really still do. 🙂

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  8. I would give it a go. I read loads of her books in the 1970s when she was very popular, I wonder if I would enjoy them as much now.

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  11. Love, love the cover. Long years ago, I did read Jean Plaidy. Your book beginning stirs up a desire to read some of those novels again. I have an interest in Thomas Moore. I will write this title down. I would like to read this author’s real life story. I don’t know if there is an autobiography or biography available about her. I suppose she is long dead. Reading too many of these titles together didn’t work for me. Each court intrigue seemed like the other one. Now I would space these books out.

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