Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II [Paperback]

Susan Holloway Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2007

London, 1660: Ready to throw off a generation of Puritan rule, all England rejoices when Charles Stuart returns to reclaim the throne. Among those welcoming him is young Barbara Villiers Palmer, a breathtaking Royalist beauty whose sensuality and clever wit instantly captivate the handsome, jaded king. Though each is promised to another, Barbara soon becomes Charles's mistress and closest friend, and the uncrowned queen of his bawdy Restoration court. Rewarded with titles, land, and jewels, she is the most envied and desired woman in England--and the most powerful. But the role of royal mistress is a precarious one, and Barbara's enemies and rivals are everywhere in the palace.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As in her popular Duchess, about Sarah Churchill, Scott captures in her latest historical romance the brilliance and hard beauty of Barbara Palmer (Lady Castlemaine), the Merry Monarch's most famous and enduring mistress. A young but far from innocent Barbara marries rich but proper Roger Palmer, whose Royalist politics set them on the path that will make her a famous courtesan and favorite of King Charles II. Lusty, bawdy and cunning, she's a fine match for the king, whose reign is portrayed as fraught with great expectations that go largely unfulfilled. Both Charles and his court are pleasingly debauched, and Charles, though well-intentioned, proves himself to be a very poor king as kings went. Charles's court is frequently depicted in this genre, but Scott finds a careful balance in Barbara, not salvaging her as a sinner, but giving her something of a heart under all that reputation. (July)
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About the Author

A graduate of Brown University, Susan Holloway Scott lives with her family in Pennsylvania. Author website: susanhollowayscott.com.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (July 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451221346
• ISBN-13: 978-0451221346
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #357,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Holloway Scott is the author of over forty historical novels and novellas. Writing under her own name as well as Miranda Jarrett, her bestselling books have received numerous awards and honors. With more than three million copies of her books in print, she has been published in nineteen foreign countries around the world. Her most recent historical novels have been set in 17th century England, in the decadent, politically-charged royal court of King Charles II; all have been Historical Novels Review Editors' Choice Titles. Her next book, THE FRENCH MISTRESS, will be released by NAL/Penguin in July, 2009. She is a graduate of Brown University, and lives with her family outside of Philadelphia, PA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very interesting character study of one of history's infamous women but not as good as a plot driven novel would have been, January 1, 2008

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II (Paperback)

The first time I heard of Barbra Palmer, the Countess Castlemain was when I read "Forever Amber" and since I've seen her appear in numerous historical fiction novels, but I'd yet to see anything from her point of view. And it seems like if you're going to have generations of people referring to you as "the great whore" you should at least be able to tell your side of the story.

But that's not what "Royal Harlot" is. Yes, its Barbara in her first person glory but even through the medium of Susan Holloway Scott" she makes no apologies. Did she not save herself for marriage-of course not. Why should she have? Sex is fun. Did she cheat on her husband-oh yes. Have sex with the king-duh. In fact pretty much the only "evil" that can't be ascribed to the Countess is killing puppies-because she probably did kick them (what else is one to do if the king lets them stay on the bed when you're having sex in it?)

Yet for all her lax moral standards Barbara wasn't just a one woman girls gone wild show, she had the ear of a king for over ten years and was a powerful and influential woman-as powerful as they come. In age when decadence was the norm and luxury rose to new heights she was the it girl-hated and envied by all.

Though I wouldn't say Scott's portrayal of Castlemain makes one sympathetic for her it does portray her as something other than sleazy sex on a stick as many other books do. She had a brain, and used it not only to keep the king ensnared for years beyond what anyone would expect but to provide for her six children, (four by the king, one by John Churchill and one a toss up between the king and her husband) to wring money and jewels from foreign ambassadors and to help re-establish the monarchy in England. I wish I could say she used her brilliant mind to help the people of England, but no. Barbara was more into helping herself and those immediately around her.

No she's not Elizabeth or Mother Teresa-she's Barbara Palmer and this is her story. It's filled with sex, beautiful clothes and jewels, handsome men and pretty women. It's a wild ride, but instead of being a novel motivated by plot, it's the story of Barbara's life between the ages of 15 and 31 and so there isn't a real story to follow, which can make parts tedious. It's a great character study and portrayal of one of history's infamous women, but it's not a great novel. There's too much of Barbara and too little story for that.

On a technical note it's nice to see that even though Scott used first person for this and her book on Sarah Churchill she managed to give each woman a very distinctive voice. This is not an author who projects her personality onto the subject as it is so easy to do. She truly writes as the actual person might have which is a mark of great skill.

Four stars. I look forward to Scott's next book, which is about Nell Gwyn and is being published in July.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sympathy for a wicked woman in this novel, August 6, 2007

By 

Rebecca Huston "telynor" (On the Banks of the Hudson) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II (Paperback)

Susan Holloway Scott follows up her first novel, Duchess, with another one that is set in the heady, pleasureable courts of the later Stuart kings of England. This time, the heroine of the story is Barbara Villiers, and the story is told through her eyes. We first meet Barbara on her first visit to London, where the year is 1656, and England is straining under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and for Royalists such as Barbara and her family, life is dreary indeed. For a fifteen year old girl like Barbara, life without music or dancing or the theatre is dull indeed, and when she comes across a fellow Royalist nobleman, Lord Chesterfield, she leaps at the chance to taste forbidden delights with him.

Barbara is delighted to be Chesterfield's mistress and manages to decieve her mother, who, after all, is just going to sell her off to the highest bidder that can further the family interests. But all too quickly, Chesterfield is exiled, and Barbara finds herself married off. Robert Palmer is a dull man, serious and only interested it seems, in money. Their marriage is an uneasy one, and while Robert certainly feels desire for her, Barbara longs for more.

More comes when she manages to be sent to the Netherlands, where the son of the executed Charles I holds together the hope of England's return to a monarchy. Charles II is poor, lives in a near ruinous inn, but still can have that aura of being a king, even if he is a landless one. In the future Charles II, Barbara finds a man that can match her in vitality and sensuality, and when Charles is finally the king of England, she goes to his court in triumph.

We get to see Barbara's marrage fall into ruins, but her relationship with Charles II leads not just to the vivid world of the court, but also a crop of illegitimate children that Barbara adores, and a grand lifestyle. If Charles marries a Portuguese princess and dallies with other women as well, Barbara knows that he will always return to her, especially if she throws a scene or two to keep him hopping back into her bed.

But there is a dark side as well -- she's the target for those who sees the king's court as decadent, and her name and reputation is well-tarnished. Too, Barbara isn't too lofty to use her influence to garner quite a few bribes for herself and advantages for her children. She and the king fight just as much as they make love, but how long will her beauty and wit last with the king's patience?

Scott's novel is very well-done. The pace moves along quickly, and rarely lags, covering the early reign of Charles II, and the grim years when England did not have a monarchy. The big events of the day are covered, from Royalist plots to the wars with the Dutch, and the scheming with the French, and up to the Great Fire that destroyed much of London. There are plenty of descriptive passages for the music, clothing, and entertainments of the time, but Scott manages a good balance between the action and the description. Too, she knows some of the more personal details about Charles II, and I was delighted to see that she included the king's spaniels throughout the book.

Barbara is a spitfire of a character, not above using bawdy language and falling in and out of lust whenever she likes. While she's certainly not a virtuous character, she does have her own code of honour throughout, which makes for an interesting read. You might not like her very much, but she is also not forgetable at all. For anyone interested in the Restoration period of England, this would make an acceptable read, and a good starting point for some of the more serious works, such as Antonia Fraser's Royal Charles.

This trade paperback edition has an afterword by the author, a reader's guide for book club discussions, and an excerpt from Scott's next novel, The King's Favorite about another mistress of Charles II, Nell Gwyn.

Recommended.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fornication during the Restoration, July 15, 2007

By 

Kristen "historical fiction junkie" (Central Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II (Paperback)

Barbara Villiers Palmer, later known as Lady Castlemaine, is one of history's most infamous and scandalous royal mistresses. Though best known for her beauty and long-lived affair with King Charles II which produced four or possibly five children, Barbara Palmer's contemporaries vilified her not only for her "adultery" with the King, but for her well known sexual appetites which she sated with many other men, and out of spite and jealousy for her beauty, and the power and influence she wielded at King Charles II's court.

Susan Holloway Scott has written a titillating novel based Barbara Palmer's years at the English Court. We meet her during the drab Cromwell years as she is denied love from her mother and finds it in the beds of young male royalists who fancy themselves plotters to restore the monarchy. She marries the uptight Roger Palmer against her own better judgment, but through him is introduced to the man who would change her life - King Charles II.

Holloway Scott documents more sexual escapades of Ms. Palmer than one can count, but fortunately she does not delve into too much detail to make it entirely tedious. The picture is clear - Barbara used sex to scratch most every kind of itch... love, desire, boredom, poverty, political intrigue, jealousy, monotony, monogamy, etc. Clearly there is documentation to support much of the reputation she earned.

The longevity of her affair and friendship with Charles speaks for itself. In each other they found an equal partner in friendship, love, sex, and spirit. As such, Barbara Palmer rose to be one of the most influential people of her time and was essentially queen in all but name and title. As is often the case, women with such power are the subject of fear, spite, and jealousy. Her contemporaries, and since historians, continuously presented her as a scheming, manipulative, hard, unfeeling whore. Holloway Scott does not deny these facets of her character, but she provides context and complexity to Barbara's person. We see a loving side, ferocity in protecting her children, determination, political skill, wit and cunning. She is actually admirable and likable!

Barbara Palmer lived a fantastical live during an amazing period in history. "Royal Harlot" is an absorbing story of the personal escapades of the Restoration's two most infamous people. Holloway Scott does not lose focus of who her main character - little is written on these pages about the other well known mistresses of the King. For the most part, she excludes the jealous outbursts, vindictive acts and mean-spirited sharp tongue that other authors consistently assign to her Ladyship. She instead portrays Barbara's confidence in her role by the side of the King as rather unflappable, and thus all other consorts are not worth her concern. This incongruence with other written and film presentations of her character threw me a bit, and I felt slightly disappointed to not get to see her in action AND be rooting for her!

Susan Holloway Scott has proven herself an adept novelist for the Restoration period with the Royal Harlot and her previous book, Duchess. I look forward to her next release based on the live of Nell Gwynn! Fans of this period & genre may also enjoy "King's Touch" by Jude Morgan, "The Perfect Royal Mistress" by Diane Haegar, and "Dark Angels" by Karleen Koen.