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Daughters of England #20
Daughters of England
In the author's final novel, a rogue marries an innocent young girl, fathers her child even though he has another wife, and later tries to force his daughter into an arranged marriage to secure his estate. Lit Guild & Doubleday.
308 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
87 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
About the author
Philippa Carr
100 books247 followersEleanor Alice Burford, Mrs. George Percival Hibbert was a British author of about 200 historical novels, most of them under the pen name Jean Plaidy which had sold 14 million copies by the time of her death. She chose to use various names because of the differences in subject matter between her books; the best-known, apart from Plaidy, are Victoria Holt (56 million) and Philippa Carr (3 million). Lesser known were the novels Hibbert published under her maiden name Eleanor Burford, or the pseudonyms of Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival and Ellalice Tate. Many of her readers under one penname never suspected her other identities.
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-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
July 15, 2013
I don't know why this is considered to be #20 of the Daughters of England series. It is actually a stand-alone book set during the reign of Charles II and James II and does not tell the story of a member of the family as do books #1 to #19.
June 21, 2017
I loved the Daughters of England series!!!!! It is one of my all-time favorite series! Book #20 really didn't fit in with books 1-19, but it was still very good. I am SO sad that I have finished all of them, but I will remember each book for a long time!💙
August 8, 2016
Philippa Carr was one of the pseudonyms used by Eleanor Hibbert for a series of nineteen books collectively known as the Daughters of England series. The first book started in 1522 and in each following book the protagonist was the daughter of the former book's heroine. The final book took place during the second world war.
Each pseudonym of Eleanor Hibbert appears to target a specific kind of book: As Jean Plaidy she mainly writes historical novels about royalty and other well-known "real" people. As Victoria Holt she writes true gothic romances. And as Philippa Carr she combines the gothic romance with relating how fictitious people's lives were influenced by current politics.
For each of these pseudonyms you can find books that do not quite belong, IMHO, like "My Enemy, the Queen" should have been published under Jean Plaidy's name and "Beyond the Blue Mountains" should be one of Victoria Holts. Which brings us to the book I'm reviewing right now: Is it a true Philippa Carr?
While reading I mostly thought so. It was a bit weird to realize that while the book's title suggests so, it does not belong to the series of the same name. The title was ill chosen, which may be explained by the fact that the book was published after Eleanor Hibbert's death. Perhaps she planned to start a second series of Daughters of England, this one having its first book beginning in 1649. For that reason this book indeed should be published as "written by Philippa Carr", but I'm afraid it isn't quite like the first series. The historical elements are all there: Cromwell, puritans, king coming back out of exile, London plague, London fire, Popish plot, Titus Oates, rebellions and William of Orange. These all have their effect on the heroine and her relations. It's the gothic part that is lacking in this book. Not until the book was three quarters on its way that finally some mysterious elements could be felt: the heroine gets to live in a huge and ancient castle, where several people do not want her to be. So much could have been made of this, but sadly the author was content to brush over everything in favor of describing the turmoil the country was in.
I liked how there was a similarity between what happened in the royal family and the heroine's family. I don't remember this from the other Philippa Carr books, so perhaps it was her intention to incorporate this into all the books of this new series. If she planned it as a new series at all, of course.
I also wonder if the book really was the final book Eleanor Hibbert wrote; it might just as well have been her first attempt at writing a "Daughters of England" series, which she discarded when she created a better version with "Miracle at St. Bruno's". I noticed one of these (The love child) was written way before the others, in 1950, so the author could easily have had the idea for such a saga in the 1940s.
Anyway, this book needs to be read on its own as a single novel and though I think it doesn't live up to the other Philippa Carr books, it surely would be wrongly labeled as being written by either Victoria Holt or Jean Plaidy. If you like Eleanor Hibbert's prose you are sure to enjoy reading it, but if you expect a gothic you will be disappointed.
Each pseudonym of Eleanor Hibbert appears to target a specific kind of book: As Jean Plaidy she mainly writes historical novels about royalty and other well-known "real" people. As Victoria Holt she writes true gothic romances. And as Philippa Carr she combines the gothic romance with relating how fictitious people's lives were influenced by current politics.
For each of these pseudonyms you can find books that do not quite belong, IMHO, like "My Enemy, the Queen" should have been published under Jean Plaidy's name and "Beyond the Blue Mountains" should be one of Victoria Holts. Which brings us to the book I'm reviewing right now: Is it a true Philippa Carr?
While reading I mostly thought so. It was a bit weird to realize that while the book's title suggests so, it does not belong to the series of the same name. The title was ill chosen, which may be explained by the fact that the book was published after Eleanor Hibbert's death. Perhaps she planned to start a second series of Daughters of England, this one having its first book beginning in 1649. For that reason this book indeed should be published as "written by Philippa Carr", but I'm afraid it isn't quite like the first series. The historical elements are all there: Cromwell, puritans, king coming back out of exile, London plague, London fire, Popish plot, Titus Oates, rebellions and William of Orange. These all have their effect on the heroine and her relations. It's the gothic part that is lacking in this book. Not until the book was three quarters on its way that finally some mysterious elements could be felt: the heroine gets to live in a huge and ancient castle, where several people do not want her to be. So much could have been made of this, but sadly the author was content to brush over everything in favor of describing the turmoil the country was in.
I liked how there was a similarity between what happened in the royal family and the heroine's family. I don't remember this from the other Philippa Carr books, so perhaps it was her intention to incorporate this into all the books of this new series. If she planned it as a new series at all, of course.
I also wonder if the book really was the final book Eleanor Hibbert wrote; it might just as well have been her first attempt at writing a "Daughters of England" series, which she discarded when she created a better version with "Miracle at St. Bruno's". I noticed one of these (The love child) was written way before the others, in 1950, so the author could easily have had the idea for such a saga in the 1940s.
Anyway, this book needs to be read on its own as a single novel and though I think it doesn't live up to the other Philippa Carr books, it surely would be wrongly labeled as being written by either Victoria Holt or Jean Plaidy. If you like Eleanor Hibbert's prose you are sure to enjoy reading it, but if you expect a gothic you will be disappointed.
November 23, 2024
Great book!! One of my favourite authors!!
February 9, 2017
This book surprised me. Since it is #20 in the eponymous "Daughters of England" series, I thought it would take place in the 20th century, after #19, We'll Meet Again. Instead, it went back to the 1600s, to the Restoration of Charles II and the short-lived reign of his younger, Catholic, brother, James II.
Regardless of the time period, however, it is almost impossible for Philippa Carr (AKA Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy) to write an uninteresting book. Her sense of the time period is impeccable; I could FEEL the tension in the air when Titus Oates was on the rampage. (I looked Oates up on Google; he may have been even worse than he's depicted here.)
Once again, Carr has crafted a solid historical novel set against actual events.
Regardless of the time period, however, it is almost impossible for Philippa Carr (AKA Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy) to write an uninteresting book. Her sense of the time period is impeccable; I could FEEL the tension in the air when Titus Oates was on the rampage. (I looked Oates up on Google; he may have been even worse than he's depicted here.)
Once again, Carr has crafted a solid historical novel set against actual events.
March 6, 2023
To echo certain other reviewers’ comments, this is not Book 20 in the Daughters of England series. Rather, it’s a stand-alone novel the bears the title of the 19-book series that came before it.
Like some of the books in the series, this novel features a twin first-person narrative. Sarah narrates the first half, and her daughter Kate takes over for the second.
I preferred Sarah’s narrative of the two. She meets an actress practising her lines and from here she realises that she too wants to act. With a mother who sees sin in everything, and a father too laidback to offer Sarah any support, the only way to fulfil her ambitions is to run away to London with her actress friend.
This is set shortly after Charles II returns to England to claim his throne, so the theatres are all reopening now the tyrannical Puritan rule is over.
I was highly engaged in the first half of Sarah’s narrative. After a while, though, it became a bit static and, in some respects, predictable. Still, on the most part, it’s good reading.
When we get to the Great Fire of 1666, the author slows things down by going into dry second-hand reports, such as how the king and his brother took part in stopping the fire. If Sarah was caught up with them, it could’ve been exciting, but she was nowhere near, so it was pointless going into such detail when it bears no significance to her story. It’s facts for facts’ sake. I think ‘information dump’ is the term some readers use to describe this sort of thing.
In the most part, though, Sarah’s narrative proved enjoyable. Once we switch to her daughter’s narration, the novel takes a different direction all together. At first, Kate’s in London, but she at length moves to the country. I usually like a country setting, but in this book the London setting is more appealing because of the events that occur.
The problem with Kate’s narrative is the excessive dry facts relating what was happening in royal circles. We get many second-hand reports, some of which have little to do with Kate’s story. In certain cases, outside events do affect her life in the country, but even so, the info could’ve been conveyed in a more engaging way, such as through a dialogue exchange where someone involved first-hand in such-and-such a situation discusses it with Kate, or with someone else in Kate’s presence.
Below is a quote that highlights one of the many occasions where Kate’s narrative reads like a textbook:
‘Moreover, the other accuser, Oates's confederate Bedlow, claimed an acquaintance with Sir George and declared he had become on intimate terms with him in his duty to discover how base he was. Sir George replied that he had not seen Bedlow before this trial began and appealed to the court, asking them if they really believed he could have been on intimate terms with such a man.’
When I was reading the above quote it, like all similar dry accounts, changed the narrative voice. I was no longer hearing Kate’s voice.
On a similar note, when we do get first-hand accounts of scenes Kate (and Sarah) is featured in, several are ‘told’, not shown. The following quote uses reported speech and dry facts, which could’ve been brought to life with dialogue and dramatization:
‘I had been given a maid called Amy. She must have guessed that I was unused to such grandeur and asked me if she could help me to dress. I told her I could manage very well, as I always had, and she said that if there was anything I needed I had only to call her.’
‘Telling’ is one of this author’s ‘sins’. Descriptions like ‘He was clearly worried’ show a lack of imagination. When an author uses ‘clearly’ in this context, they aren’t showing the reader anything.
Kate is eleven when she moves to the country. She meets a nineteen-year-old called Kirk. Before long, Kirk the man is without doubt in love with Kate the girl, at one point saying how he wishes she’d grow up quicker.
This is one of several novels this author (under one pen name or another) has a grown man wishing a child would grow up faster so that he could marry her. The worst one was ‘The Scarlet Cloak’ (with the author writing as Jean Plaidy), in which a man is first attracted to a girl when she’s seven, just because she dances in a certain way. Similar to that book, in this one, Kirk feels that Kate is older for her years, as though this makes it acceptable. I find it all too creepy. Surely a normal nineteen-year-old would love an eleven-year-old in a brotherly way.
As the novel nears the end, we get ever more dry facts and second-hand accounts, plus a lot of repetition, mainly about how the people will resent it if the Duke of York becomes King James II and returns England to popery.
I like Kate as a character, so it’s a shame we couldn’t read about more of her personal experiences. It would’ve made for a stronger story.
A weird girl character called Francine interacts with Kate a few times. These scenes are particularly good and it’s a shame the author didn’t focus on developing them.
This novel could’ve been much better if the focus remained with the lead characters and their personal stories.
Like some of the books in the series, this novel features a twin first-person narrative. Sarah narrates the first half, and her daughter Kate takes over for the second.
I preferred Sarah’s narrative of the two. She meets an actress practising her lines and from here she realises that she too wants to act. With a mother who sees sin in everything, and a father too laidback to offer Sarah any support, the only way to fulfil her ambitions is to run away to London with her actress friend.
This is set shortly after Charles II returns to England to claim his throne, so the theatres are all reopening now the tyrannical Puritan rule is over.
I was highly engaged in the first half of Sarah’s narrative. After a while, though, it became a bit static and, in some respects, predictable. Still, on the most part, it’s good reading.
When we get to the Great Fire of 1666, the author slows things down by going into dry second-hand reports, such as how the king and his brother took part in stopping the fire. If Sarah was caught up with them, it could’ve been exciting, but she was nowhere near, so it was pointless going into such detail when it bears no significance to her story. It’s facts for facts’ sake. I think ‘information dump’ is the term some readers use to describe this sort of thing.
In the most part, though, Sarah’s narrative proved enjoyable. Once we switch to her daughter’s narration, the novel takes a different direction all together. At first, Kate’s in London, but she at length moves to the country. I usually like a country setting, but in this book the London setting is more appealing because of the events that occur.
The problem with Kate’s narrative is the excessive dry facts relating what was happening in royal circles. We get many second-hand reports, some of which have little to do with Kate’s story. In certain cases, outside events do affect her life in the country, but even so, the info could’ve been conveyed in a more engaging way, such as through a dialogue exchange where someone involved first-hand in such-and-such a situation discusses it with Kate, or with someone else in Kate’s presence.
Below is a quote that highlights one of the many occasions where Kate’s narrative reads like a textbook:
‘Moreover, the other accuser, Oates's confederate Bedlow, claimed an acquaintance with Sir George and declared he had become on intimate terms with him in his duty to discover how base he was. Sir George replied that he had not seen Bedlow before this trial began and appealed to the court, asking them if they really believed he could have been on intimate terms with such a man.’
When I was reading the above quote it, like all similar dry accounts, changed the narrative voice. I was no longer hearing Kate’s voice.
On a similar note, when we do get first-hand accounts of scenes Kate (and Sarah) is featured in, several are ‘told’, not shown. The following quote uses reported speech and dry facts, which could’ve been brought to life with dialogue and dramatization:
‘I had been given a maid called Amy. She must have guessed that I was unused to such grandeur and asked me if she could help me to dress. I told her I could manage very well, as I always had, and she said that if there was anything I needed I had only to call her.’
‘Telling’ is one of this author’s ‘sins’. Descriptions like ‘He was clearly worried’ show a lack of imagination. When an author uses ‘clearly’ in this context, they aren’t showing the reader anything.
Kate is eleven when she moves to the country. She meets a nineteen-year-old called Kirk. Before long, Kirk the man is without doubt in love with Kate the girl, at one point saying how he wishes she’d grow up quicker.
This is one of several novels this author (under one pen name or another) has a grown man wishing a child would grow up faster so that he could marry her. The worst one was ‘The Scarlet Cloak’ (with the author writing as Jean Plaidy), in which a man is first attracted to a girl when she’s seven, just because she dances in a certain way. Similar to that book, in this one, Kirk feels that Kate is older for her years, as though this makes it acceptable. I find it all too creepy. Surely a normal nineteen-year-old would love an eleven-year-old in a brotherly way.
As the novel nears the end, we get ever more dry facts and second-hand accounts, plus a lot of repetition, mainly about how the people will resent it if the Duke of York becomes King James II and returns England to popery.
I like Kate as a character, so it’s a shame we couldn’t read about more of her personal experiences. It would’ve made for a stronger story.
A weird girl character called Francine interacts with Kate a few times. These scenes are particularly good and it’s a shame the author didn’t focus on developing them.
This novel could’ve been much better if the focus remained with the lead characters and their personal stories.
June 29, 2019
Eleanor Hibbert was a prolific writer, who wrote over 190 books under different pen names. Each pen name was used for a different genre of fiction. The more commonly known pen names were; Jean Plaidy for historical fiction, Victoria Holt for gothic romance and Philippa Carr for multi-generational stories.
Daughters of England covers the period of 1660 to 1689. It follows the life of Sarah Standish, who runs away to London to become a stage actress, and her daughter Kate, who is the illegitimate daughter of Lord Rosslyn. During this time period, King Charles II is in power, along with his court intrigues, followed by the power struggle for the throne after his death. As people take sides on whether a Catholic king should be ruling England, people of all social classes are being hunted down and persecuted for their political and religious beliefs. The author seamlessly integrates the historical facts (and rumors) of the time, into the story about Sarah and Kate.
Daughters of England covers the period of 1660 to 1689. It follows the life of Sarah Standish, who runs away to London to become a stage actress, and her daughter Kate, who is the illegitimate daughter of Lord Rosslyn. During this time period, King Charles II is in power, along with his court intrigues, followed by the power struggle for the throne after his death. As people take sides on whether a Catholic king should be ruling England, people of all social classes are being hunted down and persecuted for their political and religious beliefs. The author seamlessly integrates the historical facts (and rumors) of the time, into the story about Sarah and Kate.
January 30, 2021
This is a decent little book set in England during the reigns of Charles II and James II, and told from the POV of a mother and daughter. It's an interesting structure - we get the mother's story first and then the daughter's. I thought the mother's story was a solid 4 stars but the daughter's story drags a bit. The mother is a naive young girl from the countryside who goes to London to become an actress and the obvious bad things happen to her. She lives through the plague, the great fire, and manages to make a life for herself against all odds. Compared to that, the daughter's life of dreaming about men and avoiding a great lady who doesn't care for her was pretty dull.
June 29, 2021
This is my first Philippe Carr book and love that it was an historical novel. Set from 1660 through 1689 in England - London and then Dorset area - this novel holds true with what is happening in the monarchy of the time and the upheavals that occur due to politics and religion. The main characters are first Sarah Standish, an aspiring actress who comes to London to follow her dream. Duped by a rogue into a false marriage, we come to meet Kate Standish, her daughter.
The ending was a bit weak and unsatisfying. A bit of a “meh” moment. But the historical aspects worked into the story really worked well. Nice summer read that I picked up and read in under a week.
The ending was a bit weak and unsatisfying. A bit of a “meh” moment. But the historical aspects worked into the story really worked well. Nice summer read that I picked up and read in under a week.
September 30, 2018
first book of hers I have read. parts were good. parts i was very disappointed, in general was a good but get to the end and i was left wondering why the first half of the book (mothers half) was there. it seems insignificant and pointless once you get to the end. Also the first half seems unrealistic - in that it should have been set in a later age, not 1600's.
a lot of useless detail. and then the story is suddenly ended in the space of a page and a half! left feeling unfinished and what happened to all of other characters they introduced. i hope her other books are better.
a lot of useless detail. and then the story is suddenly ended in the space of a page and a half! left feeling unfinished and what happened to all of other characters they introduced. i hope her other books are better.
February 25, 2021
AMO!!! 😍 me encanta todo lo que es historical fiction;monarquia, reyes, doncellas, nooo lo mejor (sobretodo cuando está situado en inglaterra). Quede muy enganchada con la historia de Kate y Kirk y con las intenciones que el papá tiene, así que necesito seguir con los libros de la autora. Además que esté narrado en primera persona es un plus en mi opinión, me encariño más con los personajes que van narrando su propia historia jajaja.
July 4, 2018
The plot was a bit disjointed with two main characters (mother then daughter) telling their stories one after the other. Not a lot of tension was created with the plot, and the story just seemed to fizzle o out. However, I did feel like I got a glimpse into post-Cromwellian England which was interesting.
February 9, 2022
This book kept me reading, but the story and writing was not what I expected of this author. I have read books by this author under all her different names and this one just seemed very light and poorly written. The characters, Sarah and Kate, were extremely naive and viewed the world as one-dimensional.. Overall, I was disappointed.
January 11, 2023
This book read like the author was writing on fast forward. She skiped from scene to scene with no warning, there is never any world or character building that’s more than a sentence or two. Even if you’re familiar with the history it still felt rushed and vague.
June 9, 2018
Too fluffy for me
This was a disappointing read. The characters were much too unrealistic for the historic setting. Carr writes well, but the characters seem so superficial to me.
This was a disappointing read. The characters were much too unrealistic for the historic setting. Carr writes well, but the characters seem so superficial to me.
July 4, 2018
Easy read. Some times the time line became a little muddied though
July 15, 2019
Interesting but I would not read it again.
May 31, 2024
Read the Entire Series
This book was just ok. The plot was a bit more farfetched than most of the others . I could have lived with out it
This book was just ok. The plot was a bit more farfetched than most of the others . I could have lived with out it
June 4, 2012
This is a second read since acquiring this book. I appreciated the factual history throughout the story to give me a sense of what life was like in England in the 1600's. I found the story engaging, but could not become immersed with the characters.
January 8, 2013
I love Philippa Carr;s books, and read them all when I was young. Now I am re-reading them and enjoying them very much.'This is the story of two women in the 1600s in England, and the challenges they are faced with, with a little back drop of English history thrown in.
May 14, 2018
2 ½ stars
October 1, 2012
I liked the historical background and the opportunity to see what life was like in England in the 1600s. I also liked the way the story was told from the mother's point of view, then the daughter's.
July 1, 2013
Historical fiction is my favorite and when it is set in England even better. The dialog was rather repetitious but I like the story.
July 22, 2014
Not the last book in the series, it was a story unto itself. Surprising which made me sad that #19 was the last one and I didn't know that until I started this one.
September 11, 2015
I usually like Philippa Carr/Victoria Holt, but this book was so full of repetition it drove me nuts. The dialogue was not up to par with her other books as well. It was a bit of a disappointment.
January 18, 2016
I was a bit apprehensive as I haven't read any of the previous books in the series, but I found I didn't need to, it was a good story on its own.
Read
January 29, 2017My before-life was in 17th century Europe, so I identified with this book and I am thrilled that Carr/Holt tells the story! (8.5)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews