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Favourite Victoria Holt Novel

(including the other many pseudonyms of Eleanor Hibbert)
SCW
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Favourite Victoria Holt Novel

Post by SCW » Sun June 12th, 2011, 12:21 pm

Was very partial to her books in my teens and early twenties. My personal favourites would have to be On the Night of the Seventh Moon and My Enemy the Queen

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun June 12th, 2011, 12:26 pm

I haven't read them all yet. I was on a roll for a bit there and then started to burn out. Mistress of Mellyn (sp?) seems to stick out for me.
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SCW
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Preferred HF: Lately World Two or the time immediately before and after this period
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Post by SCW » Sun June 12th, 2011, 12:36 pm

When I was 16 I found a heap of them in a second hand bookshop- they were selling for a dollar each. I think I bought around 12 of them.
Was Mistress of Mellyn the one that 'borrows' heavily from Jane Eyre?

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Post by Misfit » Sun June 12th, 2011, 12:43 pm

I think so, although I'd have to go back to my old review to refresh my memory :o

There's a used book store in my neck of the woods that has (or had, haven't been by lately) a bunch of them in older paperback editions (60's? 50's?).
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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Sun June 12th, 2011, 5:14 pm

They re-issued a few of her books about 5 years ago or so over here; I've got Mistress of Mellyn, The Shivering Sands and The Time of the Hunter's moon on mount tbr.
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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princess garnet
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Post by princess garnet » Sun June 12th, 2011, 6:24 pm

I would be thrilled if The Queen's Confession was reissued!

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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa » Sun June 12th, 2011, 6:38 pm

I have her re-issued books on my TBR pile - I've read one of them but can't remember which.

A book which stands out for me is Menfreya.
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Post by boswellbaxter » Mon June 13th, 2011, 2:29 am

I've only read a couple of Victoria Holts. I thought The Queen's Confession was excellent, but I couldn't get on with My Enemy the Queen. I may pick it up again soon--it might have just been a mood I was in.
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Post by SGM » Mon June 13th, 2011, 6:50 am

I read several when I was in my teens but I have to confess to not being particularly keen on her even then so she is not someone I would really consider re-reading.

Roxanne C Murph made an interesting comment on the whole range of Plaidy/Holt/Carr etc novels (not that I necessarily think she was correct in some of her assessments) to the tune that despite her numerous novels, Paidy etc never managed to write believable dialogue. That is quite possibly the reason I don't get on with her but I was too young to make that kind of assessment and when I did try reading one of Jean Plaidy's a few years ago because it covered a person I was interested in -- I found it not up to par.
Currently reading - Emergence of a Nation State by Alan Smith

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Mon June 13th, 2011, 2:26 pm

[quote=""SGM""]Roxanne C Murph made an interesting comment on the whole range of Plaidy/Holt/Carr etc novels (not that I necessarily think she was correct in some of her assessments) to the tune that despite her numerous novels, Paidy etc never managed to write believable dialogue. [/quote] I pretty much agree with this. Holt was one of my favorite authors in my younger years -- I devoured nearly all of her books in my teens and early twenties. In my mid- to late-twenties I discovered her Plaidy titles, although by that time she was losing steam with me and so I only read a few before dropping her altogether. In the last couple of years I decided -- after a hiatus of 15 or so years -- to give her another try, so I read one Holt and one Plaidy. And both of them fell pretty flat with me.

That being said, when it comes to naming a favorite Holt out of the many I read it's pretty easy. All of her books were formulaic and so similar that they all run together in my memory now. The only one that stands out as different was My Enemy the Queen. So I guess I'd have to say that was my favorite.

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