Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

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Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

by Leslie Carroll (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 228 ratings · 58 reviews

The author of Notorious Royal Marriages presents some of history's boldest, baddest, and bawdiest royals.

The bad seeds on the family trees of the most powerful royal houses of Europe often became the most rotten of apples: über-violent autocrats Vlad the Impaler and Ivan the Terrible literally reigned in blood. Lettice Knollys strove to mimic the appearance of her cousin...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published March 1st 2011 by NAL Trade (first published February 4th 2011)

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Mar 28, 2012 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Let me ask you something...how important is it for you to learn about historical figures when reading history? Are you one of those people who strictly wants timelines with just a mere mention of names- OR- do you mostly crave facts and details on people of the past? If you tend to lean on the latter, Leslie Carroll’s books are perfect for you!

After finishing Royal Pains, I felt completely satiated- a definite history fill that I am still raving about. Royal Pains is history bliss for anyone wan...more Let me ask you something...how important is it for you to learn about historical figures when reading history? Are you one of those people who strictly wants timelines with just a mere mention of names- OR- do you mostly crave facts and details on people of the past? If you tend to lean on the latter, Leslie Carroll’s books are perfect for you!

After finishing Royal Pains, I felt completely satiated- a definite history fill that I am still raving about. Royal Pains is history bliss for anyone wanting to know up to the very last detail on notorious historical figures. EXCEPT that this time Carrol focuses on the brutes of history.

Yep, Royal Pains is filled with royals that were decadent, unbelievably brutal, carnal and destructive in every way. Some parts were incredibly gruesome to read but nonetheless; this is the history. It’s still unbelievable to me that some of those brutal acts were either condoned or extremely difficult to prosecute! Although I was shocked to learn about some of these historical monsters, I have to admit that some of their behaviours were so astonishing that I had to keep on reading with the hope that they would have somehow redeemed themselves. But no! Brutes till the very end!

The absolute worst for me was Erzsebet (The blood countess). This woman from a young girl was Evil incarnated. I can’t possibly think of anyone (in any time in history!) that compares to her- an absolute monster! Catching up to her is the runner-up Mr. Cruel himself, Ivan The Terrible; he actually ties with Vlad the Impaler...Are you getting the picture here? Royal Pains had me in a trance. I’ve never read so much detailed history written this way-I was captured from the beginning!

And, for a bit of respite from the barbarians found in Royal Pains, the crème de la crème of narcissists are presented. Two of my favourites being: Lettice Knollys and Pauline Bonaparte...oh the joy! If these two didn’t make the cut for brutality, they certainly aced the part of blatantly immoral. Just when you think you’ve read all that there is to read on these ladies...surprise, surprise- there’s more! And then the list of brutes and pains goes on. (The ‘good old days’ does not apply).

Royal Pains is a fascinating read- a one-of-a kind history book that will feed you details by the ton. I love reading about historical figures but I can never get enough info on these. It’s not the case with Leslie Carroll’s books! This author knows her history and brings the characters to life as she tells their story. I’ve found her style to be just as captivating and true to the figures in all her nonfiction works: Royal affairs, Notorious Royal Marriages and now, Royal Pains.

History’s people are Leslie Carroll’s expertise- She’s definitely my favourite historian author. Get the book- you’ll be SHOCKED.

Excellent!
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Mar 11, 2011 V rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: z2011

Although I'm sure it is completely intentional, the conversational tone of this book and (especially) the use of modern terminology and colloquialisms are a real turn off for me. I'm not saying that histories need to be written in stilted language, but this degree of informality undermines a work of nonfiction. Why should I believe that the author is doing a fair job in her analysis and summary of historical works if her writing sounds like a teenager's history term paper? The storytelling also...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, non-fiction

Leslie Carroll certainly knows how to pick them! The baddies in this book were certainly scandalous, grotesque, or sometimes quite crazy. There were several figures who were very familiar to me and there were a couple that I had never heard of before .Even during the chapters about those who were familiar to me, I still found something new and interesting. They also spanned many different countries – and several were from countries from the former Soviet Union which were very obscure to me.

This...more Leslie Carroll certainly knows how to pick them! The baddies in this book were certainly scandalous, grotesque, or sometimes quite crazy. There were several figures who were very familiar to me and there were a couple that I had never heard of before .Even during the chapters about those who were familiar to me, I still found something new and interesting. They also spanned many different countries – and several were from countries from the former Soviet Union which were very obscure to me.

This is a very readable non-fiction book – it essentially reads like a novel. Leslie infuses her writing with wit and commentary that makes the pages just fly by and makes you sometimes outright laugh. I totally enjoyed reading this book. One thing that can be seen as a positive or as slightly negative (depending on your viewpoint) is the frequent usage of what I will call “thesaurus words”. Sometimes I was so overwhelmed by words that I really didn’t know (and I like to think I have a decent vocabulary). So either prepare yourself with a dictionary on hand or be prepared to just skip over them (or maybe you have a better grip on these words than I do!).

One improvement of this book over her previous release, Notorious Royal Marriages, was that there were fewer figures (chapters) – this lead to longer chapters and more little details about each individual being examined. It gives the reader more of a chance to get to know the royal before moving on to the next.

One small complaint I do have was sometimes it felt like we strayed away from the subject of the chapter to other characters for a little too long. It was important to give historical setting and to create a well rounded feel of the scene. It was also necessary to get to know some of the other important players as well, but sometimes I would find myself asking “where is this going?” One such example is in the Lettice Knollys chapter we spent a lot of time learning about Robert Dudley and his various flings and wives – and although Lettice would eventually fall into one of those categories – I felt like it was more than we needed about Dudley when I would want more about Knollys. It was still great to get the information and I learned a lot none-the-less.

Out of all of the baddies in this book, my favorites to read about were: Archduke Rudolf, Prince Albert Victor and Princess Margaret. Looking at this list, these all are from the more recent of the royals in this book and my choices could have likely been influenced by not being familiar with these more contemporary royals.

A wonderful read!

This book was received for review from the publisher - I was not compensated for my opinions and the above is my honest review.(less)

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Mar 15, 2011 Elena rated it 5 of 5 stars

"King John was not a good man...." ~ from A.A. Milne's "King John"

With her inimitable brand of poignancy, wit and humor, Leslie Carroll entertains us once more with her newly released book "Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds." Once again, I looked for spare moments in which to slip away to my reading corner. Although the stories of naughty (and sometimes genuinely evil) royals are not without tragedy and pathos, Leslie's piquant observations are such that one cannot h...more "King John was not a good man...." ~ from A.A. Milne's "King John"

With her inimitable brand of poignancy, wit and humor, Leslie Carroll entertains us once more with her newly released book "Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds." Once again, I looked for spare moments in which to slip away to my reading corner. Although the stories of naughty (and sometimes genuinely evil) royals are not without tragedy and pathos, Leslie's piquant observations are such that one cannot help but chuckle out loud from time to time. However, I do not recommend reading the horrific accounts of Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, or Erzsébet Báthory before bedtime because the magnitude of their crimes might make it difficult to sleep. I suppose one should be comforted in the knowledge that there have always been psychopaths; our age is not unique in that respect. Nevertheless, in days gone by people did not try to justify or sanitize the actions of evildoers; a wicked tyrant was a wicked tyrant, and everyone knew it.

As in her previous books, Leslie skillfully pulls together reams of information into flowing narratives. Although I had encountered each of the historical personages before, in every case I found myself learning a great deal as well as garnering deeper insights into the various eras of history. The author is careful to mention the good deeds of the likes of bad King John and Ivan the Terrible; they did do a few magnanimous things for the common people, and so a balanced picture is given. As for some of the more complicated and mysterious characters such as Richard III and Crown Prince Rudolph, the evidence is presented but the reader is allowed to make up his or her own mind.

Some royals came off much better than I had expected. I had always had the impression that Prince Albert Victor ("Eddy") was a total degenerate. After reading "Royal Pains" I am now able to see him as a deeply romantic young man, yearning for the princess of his dreams. He was not overly clever and enjoyed fast living but he was by no means Jack the Ripper. If Eddy had lived and married Mary of Teck, she would have straightened him out, I think. As it was, she straightened out his brother George.

The Mayerling tragedy, which I have written about before, is dealt with very astutely in "Royal Pains." Crown Prince Rudolph is shown to have been perfectly capable of doing away with himself although the theories that he was assassinated are also explored. Rudolph, although he fell into drugs and dissipation, had an endearing side and genuinely cared about his people. He is one of the most genuinely sympathetic figures in the book albeit he was a bit mad. Being psychologically tortured as a small child did not help his mental equilibrium as an adult.

As I was growing up in the 1970's, Princess Margaret was always in the news, although I had no idea until now of the extent of the mess she made of her life. Hers is a sad story. At the end of her chapter, I realized once more how early childhood influences can make or break people. Being overindulged and spoiled can warp a child's character as much as cruelty and neglect. There is nothing like a book which charms even as it provokes reflection, which takes us on a journey to the past in order to better understand the present...and better understand ourselves. (less)

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Mar 18, 2011 Pylgrym rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Pylgrym by: Giveaway copy

Royal Pains is a fun, informative read. Biography lite. It can be approached as a series of short essays to spread the fun. It does have a time line, however. Two-thirds of the book consists of rounding up the usual suspects in England and all but one is well known to history buffs. The Europeans are actually even more notorious if possible. Leslie Carroll does an excellent job of sorting out truth from infamy as in the segment on Richard III where some of the more outrageous claims made by the...more

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Mar 23, 2011 Jean rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm all for breezy non-fiction works; I applaud popularizing historical works. But I'm afraid I can't really countenance phrases like "BFF" in a work of non-fiction, particularly in a section about Ivan the Terrible! This book goes too far in the breezy, popularizing direction and isn't helped by insufficient documentation. You don't want to clutter up a work of popular history with a ton of footnotes, I understand that. But if you're going to say things like "Her aunt Klara was a bisexual sadom...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Joy rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book caught my eye on the non-fiction shelf at the library. It was quite amusing with stories on some notorious "brates, brutes and bad seeds." Some of the brief bios were on King John of England, Ivan the Terrible, Pauline Boneparte, and Princess Margaret of England. Can't think when I've reported before on a book I didn't finish, but it was due (after nine weeks), so I had to pick and choose a few charactuers. The story of Princess Margaret was of particular interest since I read as a chi...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, 2011-reads, bio-memoir

This book dedicates 30-50 pages recounting the exploits of each of the following: King John, Vlad the Impaler, George, Duke of Clarence, Richard III, Ivan the Terrible, Lettice Knollys, The Blood Countess, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland, Pauline Bonaparte, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Albert Victor and Princess Margaret. This is an interesting book for those of us who enjoy reading about history but don't fit in the history buff category. The bios are short enough to not bore and to be able to tole...more

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May 10, 2011 Carole Rae rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book follows the lives of many historical royal pains. Every single one of them was horrid and lived extremely crazy lives. From Vlad the Impaler to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. This novel gives great detail about these people; not only what they did, but their childhoods and possible reasons why they did what they did. Many had very abnormal and bad childhoods. Some were just psychotic and had something wrong with their mind. Since I'm taking General Psychology right now, I foun...more This book follows the lives of many historical royal pains. Every single one of them was horrid and lived extremely crazy lives. From Vlad the Impaler to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. This novel gives great detail about these people; not only what they did, but their childhoods and possible reasons why they did what they did. Many had very abnormal and bad childhoods. Some were just psychotic and had something wrong with their mind. Since I'm taking General Psychology right now, I found this book very helpful and a way to place my knowledge of the mind. I made a game of trying to diagnosis those rotten apples.

I loved how Leslie Carroll told each tale. Yes, she seemed to drift a little bit and talk a little too much about other people. However, I think it was necessary to understand what that royal pain had to deal with. I especially loved Leslie Carroll's writing style. She had lots of puns and plenty of wit in every paragraph. This book is a wonderful book about some of the most shady characters of the past. I enjoyed each tale she brought to the table.

Being an honest person, I must tell what I disliked about the novel. I believe she should've had more order about how she placed each story. If I had written this fantastic book, I would've done a count down. Perhaps save the biggest royal pain for last. Or in chronological order. Something like that. Also, I hated how she tended to focus too much on someone other than what the chapter was about. For example, she would spend too much time writing about Vlad's father. I tended to drift off and not focus on the beginning.

Besides for those two things, I really adored this book! It's hard to write how much I liked it. Yes, it may have been formated as a history book, but it felt like little mini-stories. It's hard to example. If you haven't read this book yet, you should! You'll learn so much about the rotten apples in the past. It really makes you appreciate living in a civilized world where people don't generally do things like that. All-in-all this book has recieved 5 out of 5 stars. ^.^ I plan to read more of Leslie Carroll's books in the future.(less)

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Apr 07, 2011 Cristyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-giveaway

I won this on Goodreads First Reads.

I liked this book. It was an easy read, with a laid back conversational tone to the writing. I knew that some of the people in the book had scandalous lives, but there were a few I wasn't familiar with.

I did enjoy the book overall, but have two criticisms. First, my book does not have 432 pages in the book...only 391. So did someone not give the right number of pages...or is my book missing a section?

Second, I didn't really like some of the redundant informat...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Lolly's rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, nonfiction, royal-history, popular-history, european-history

Like other popular history books, the tone of Royal Pains is lively and flippant, with a 'wink, wink, nudge, nudge' kind of intimacy, as though the profiles it contains are bits of juicy gossip heard at the latest coffee klatsch. Though I understand why this kind of convivial narration is used--coupled with the fairly sensationalist subject matter, it helps draw in a wider audience and keep them reading, most likely with the idea that they'll stay unaware of the fact they're taking in and enjoyi...more Like other popular history books, the tone of Royal Pains is lively and flippant, with a 'wink, wink, nudge, nudge' kind of intimacy, as though the profiles it contains are bits of juicy gossip heard at the latest coffee klatsch. Though I understand why this kind of convivial narration is used--coupled with the fairly sensationalist subject matter, it helps draw in a wider audience and keep them reading, most likely with the idea that they'll stay unaware of the fact they're taking in and enjoying history--the casual tone occasionally becomes a bit too much so, taking away from the drama and impact of a particular tale. And while most of the personages profiled by the book fit into one of the categories given by the subtitle of A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds, there's one that has had the description "royal pain" thrust upon him without actually having done anything to warrant that label. Pauline Bonaparte and Princess Margaret? Definitely brats. Vlad the Impaler and Ivan IV? Most certainly brutes, of the highest order. King John and Elizabeth Bathory? Yup, bad seeds. Very bad seeds. However, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale wasn't particularly brutish, bratty, and while he was somewhat intellectually diffident and free with his sexual favors (what male member of the royal family wasn't?), I certainly wouldn't characterize him as a bad seed. He's included for the mere fact that, decades after his birth, someone decided that he was Jack the Ripper and, despite the fact that royal diaries and itineraries clearly place "Eddy" away from Whitechapel when each crime was committed, stuck to that story, creating a distorted mythos which spread and took on new dimensions of horror and depravity each time a new "researcher" got their hands on it. Carroll states at the end of Prince Albert's entry that it's the mere fact of this continued infamy which classifies him as a royal pain. It seems to me, with the wealth of other historical royal pains out there, that Carroll could have featured one who was an actual brat, brute, or bad seed rather than someone as hapless as Prince Albert.

That said, I still enjoyed reading Royal Pains. Not because I'm particularly enriched; usually I don't discover anything about these people I don't already know. (I think the only new information I got came in the entries for Pauline Bonaparte and Archduke Rudolf of Austria.) However, when written well (and despite my comments about the casual tone of the book, Royal Pains is well-written), popular history books can be quite entertaining, as this one was, and a pleasant way to while away the hours.

See more of my reviews at: http://lollyslibrary.blogspot.com/(less)

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May 07, 2012 Lynne Tull rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I bet you thought I would never finish this book. Well, I didn't either, but I did! Just when you think you have heard/read/know it all, up jumps some new information. That was the case for me when I read this book. I had never really studied history in school so that's my excuse.

Each chapter of the book is devoted to a different 'Royal Pain'. It is in chronological order, but really does not have to be read in that order. It was just good for me to be able to relate it to a familiar time perio...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Catelyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks

My taste in history books runs from the very dry (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) to the ultra-comprehensive (Europe: A History) to the deliciously popular, such as this. Sometimes I just need to read about mistresses and murder, and royal antics in general. Leslie Carroll is the perfect writer for such times.

I loved Royal Affairs, which I read last year, and I've got her Notorious Royal Marriages on my to-read shelf. I recommend books like this to my friends who don't enjoy history an...more

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May 21, 2013 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, history-english, history-europe-general, history-tudors, dracula, shakespeare, mt-olympus

Considering the generality of much of the information and the fact Carroll attributes sources in text, I didn’t really have a problem with a lack of foot or endnotes.

I know this history lite, a step remove from general reference, yet it very much felt like a cliff note version or a summary of other works. For instance, the chapter on Pauline Bonaparte is heavily drawn from Flora Fraser’s book. There isn’t anything wrong with it, after all Carroll attributes it, but it still feels like reading t...more

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Apr 09, 2011 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, 2011, nonfiction, lady-authors

I received this book in a First Reads giveaway and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I thought it had a good selection of royals; some I already knew were infamously horrible, the type that you look up on Wikipedia when you can't sleep at night (or maybe that's just me) like Vlad the Impaler or Erzsebet Bathory, some I knew from legends or plays like Prince John of Robin Hood fame and Richard III, and some I had no idea had any kind of scandal associated with them like Napoleon's and Queen Elizab...more

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May 02, 2011 Michele rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

I found "Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds", that I own courtesy of goodreads,to be an informative book. It was hard for me at times to get into the book but once I did, I enjoyed it for the most part. Vlad the Impaler I knew a bit about but for me it was a tough read. I know of what Elizabeth"The Bloody Countess" Bathory did so I skipped that chapter altogether because it would be too gruesome for me. Now they all left me shaking my head in disbelief at their shenan...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Nymphomania, sibling rivalry, insanity, sadism...Each chapter of this book focuses on a different Royal - exploring in detail how their scandalous behavior shocked (and sometimes killed) their families and subjects.

The book includes:

*A countess whose skin care regimen involved bathing in the blood of virgins (Erzsebet Bathory of Hungary)

*A woman who consistently juggled multiple lovers at one time, including possibly her own brother, to the point that her doctors pleaded with her to practice ab...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Mia rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I thought this book was pretty terrible. The author rambles from topic to topic and was hard to follow. She also couldn't seem to decide if she was targeting a teen audience or adults judging from her word choices. She turned really interesting history into a boring chore. I couldn't finish it, and I hate not finishing a book.

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Mar 31, 2011 Krystal rated it 4 of 5 stars

I never knew royals and upper-crust citizens could be so evil and/or wicked! This book is great for the reader who does not necessarily enjoy history books, but likes the more gritty, fun facts about our predecessors. I was able to learn a lot more than I had known about these royals and I picked up some solid history facts along the way

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Sep 28, 2011 Kim rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographical

A decent, slightly humorous survey, but it wasn't all that enlightening, even on the people I knew less about. By the time I was a third of the way through it, I just started skimming the rest. There wasn't really anything riveting enough to make me read it more closely. Also, the various typos I found kept throwing me off.

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Mar 16, 2011 Tiffany rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

This book was really interesting, especially if you have an interest in historical fiction. It helps put characters that seem to appear in a lot of these books in a historical context so you can understand them better. The premise of the book was interesting, even if much of the information is almost common knowledge. The book is conversational in tone, which helps to keep if from being dry like a regular history book.

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Jun 06, 2011 Jeanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, historical

Somewhat entertaining account of bad behavior amongst some of the royals throughout history. I found the older account, like that of Napolean's sister Pauline, more interesting than more recent royal accounts, such as Queen Elizabeth's sister Princess Margaret.

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Apr 30, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

Over the course of history men and women have lived and died. In fact, getting sick and dying can be a big, ugly mess-especially before the modern medical care that we all enjoy today. How They Croaked relays all the gory details of how nineteen world figures gave up the ghost. For example:

It is believed that Henry VIII's remains exploded within his coffin while lying in state.
Doctors "treated" George Washington by draining almost 80 ounces of blood before he finally kicked the bucket.
Right befo...more

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Sep 06, 2011 Melanie Coombes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I enjoyed this book. Each chapter is about a famous "bad seed" from history. You can find out all the juicy details of people like Vlad the Impaler, Richard III, Ivan the Terrible, The Blood Countess, Pauline Bonaparte, etc.
At times, I do think that there was a lot of focus on the sensational rumors that have been glorified over the centuries. However,despite that statement, I do believe that the author did her research and included a great historical background to each individuals story. I fou...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Traci rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

Some were just insane and made me squirm, some were brats with attitude, but all were enjoyable! What an interesting book and Carroll is one of the few historians that makes a topic interesting with her humor and fluid writing style. I'll be researching her other books as well. This was a good Christmas gift!

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Sep 14, 2012 Elke rated it 3 of 5 stars

Uneven, but when it's good, it's great! Good chapters on Dracula, biased chapter on Richard III, brilliant chapters on Margret Rose and King John but Pauline Bonaparte and Prince Victor Alpert didn't work out well.

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Aug 18, 2011 Stephanie Jewett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, biography, non-fiction

It seems a bit of an extreme understatement to call Elizabeth Bathory, Ivan the Terrible, and Vlad the Impaler "pains". And the only justification given for including Lettice Knollys was that she fell in love with the guy Elizabeth I liked (but wouldn't have). The stories were interesting, but it was a bit of a stretch to include some of the individuals covered.

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May 26, 2011 Maria Marinas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Interesting account of Horrible Histories written with a very good balance of seriousness and black humour. Makes you want to buy some of the independent biographies.

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Jul 05, 2011 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, from-library, new_read

I like the idea of this book, but the informality of the language ('BFF' is so not an appropriate term to be using in a non-fiction history book!) is really turning me off.

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Jan 31, 2013 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, nf-historical

Pretty eye-opening book about the horrible deeds of a lot of royalty, especially in the middle ages. I'm glad I didn't live back then.

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About Leslie Carroll

I used to tell people that I was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx; but the truth is that apart from the stellar education I received at the Fieldston School in Riverdale, much of who I am was shaped by my two grandmothers, who encouraged me to follow my bliss long before it became the sort of catchphrase you find on tee-shirts and new-age tchotchkes. My East Side grandmother took me to FA...more I used to tell people that I was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx; but the truth is that apart from the stellar education I received at the Fieldston School in Riverdale, much of who I am was shaped by my two grandmothers, who encouraged me to follow my bliss long before it became the sort of catchphrase you find on tee-shirts and new-age tchotchkes. My East Side grandmother took me to FAO Schwarz, the New York City Ballet, and afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel, where I dreamed of becoming another Eloise. My West Side grandmother took me to the Central Park carousel and the zoo and treated me to colorful paper parasols and gummy, lukewarm pretzels from the vendors whose wares my East Side grandmother deemed too "dirty" for human consumption.

There are writers on both sides of my family, and although I always loved to write, I never anticipated that it would become my profession. I had wanted to be a ballerina; and though my club feet were corrected at birth (from the stilettos I adore now, you'd never know) and my short Achilles tendons made my toes turn in (corrected at the age of 9), I was never going to end up en pointe.

About a year later, I decided to become an actress when (if?) I grew up, and I never looked back. I majored in Theatre at Cornell University, worked in summer stock, and took classes with a couple of acknowledged masters. I performed a lot of Shakespeare and other classics in New York parks, basements, church choir lofts, and the occasional Off-Broadway theatre; then founded and ran my own nonprofit theatre company for several years. And when things got slow, and I found myself working three survival jobs simultaneously (one of them as a journalist and editor), I decided it was time to pursue an additional creative avenue.

Fast forward a decade. I'm now a multi-published author in three genres, as well as a freelance journalist. And I've also adapted a number of classic texts (Ivanhoe; The Prisoner of Zenda; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve) for the stage. I began writing women's fiction and historical fiction simultaneously, but my first published novel was the urban romantic comedy Miss Match in 2002. In 2005, as I continued to write about feisty female New Yorkers, my first historical novel was published under the pen name Amanda Elyot. While keeping those literary plates spinning I made my historical nonfiction debut in the spring of 2008.

In what I laughingly refer to as my spare time, I'm still a professional actress, working when the scripts and the roles excite me.

I'm such a native New Yorker that I still don't have a driver's license, "Big Sky Country" means Central Park, and the farthest I've ever been from the Upper West Side for any great length of time was my four-year stint upstate in Ithaca, at Cornell, known for its rigorous academics and its equally harsh permafrost.

My birthday falls on the same day as two of my heroes—F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Henson. So I reread The Great Gatsby every year and number Miss Piggy among the great actresses of her generation. My favorite color is deep hydrangea blue, and it just kills me that it doesn't look good with red hair.

I live in Manhattan with my husband Scott—who is my hero and everything I ever dreamed of. For the past couple of years we've been considering an addition to the family in the form of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.(less)

More about Leslie Carroll...

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title link	preview: Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds
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Royal Pains: A Rogues' Gallery of Brats, Brutes, and Bad Seeds

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