Jean Plaidy (1906–1993)

Eleanor Alice Burford was born in London. Her father, Joseph Burford, was a dock worker who passed on his great love of books to his daughter. She was an avid reader from the age of four onwards. In her early twenties, she married a leather merchant, George Percival Hibbert, about 20 years her senior, who also shared her love of books and reading. During World War II, the couple lived in Cornwall, which served as the setting for many of her works. She became one of the preeminent English authors of historical fiction for most of the 20th century. She used eight different pen names during her career and many of her readers never suspected her other identities. Her first romantic suspense novel, Mistress of Mellyn (1961), was published under the name Victoria Holt in order to keep her identity a secret as a publicity stunt – and a very effective one, as the book became an instant bestseller.