Born Eleanor Alice Burford, Victoria Holt was one of Britain's most prolific writers of historical romance. Always determined to keep her birth date and private life a closely guarded secret Holt wrote under many pseudonyms – Jean Plaidy was one of her most popular, and was created when she lived near Plaidy Beach in Cornwall. Having written over ninety historical romances, she then began a new series of Gothic romances, the first of which, Mistress of Mellyn, appeared in 1961.
