King's Favorite by Susan Holloway Scott: Book Cover

    King's Favorite: A Novel of Nell Gwyn and King Charles II by Susan Holloway Scott

    BUY IT NEW

    • $14.00 Online price
    • $12.60 Member price
      • Join Now
      • skip to cart
    • Add To List uiAction=GetAllLists&page=List&pageType=list&ean=9780451224064&productCode=BK&maxCount=100&threshold=3

    Usually ships within 24 hours

    BUY IT USED

    17 used from $2.70

    Used Copies Available from our Authorized Sellers.

    FIND & RESERVE AN IN-STORE COPY

    Enter a zip code

    (Paperback)

    Reader Rating: (3 ratings)

    Detailed Rating: "Escapism" See All

    • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
    • Pub. Date: July 2008
    • ISBN-13: 9780451224064
    • Sales Rank: 46,055
    • 448pp
     
    • Overview
    • Editorial Reviews
    • Customer Reviews
    • Full Product Details

    Synopsis

    The acclaimed author of Duchess and Royal Harlot returns with the unforgettable story of a king's last love and London's darling...
    BR>Nell Gwyn has never been a lady, nor does she pretend to be. Blessed with impudent wit and saucy beauty, she swiftly rises from the poverty of Covent Garden to become a sensation in the theater. Still in her teens, she catches the eye of King Charles II, and trades the stage for Whitehall Palace—and the role of royal mistress.

    Even though she delights the king, she must learn to negotiate the cutthroat royal court, where ambition and lust for power rule the hearts of all around her. For beneath her charm and light-heartedness, Nell has her own ambition—to become no less than the king's favorite.

    Publishers Weekly

    Scott's (Royal Harlot) fictionalized account of the colorful and remarkable life of Nell Gwyn, mistress to King Charles II, gives the two a lovely mutual affection. Nell, raised in a brothel, senses she's destined for better things, and before her mother can sell her virginity to the highest bidder, she procures her own protector. Selling oranges at the Theater Royal is the next step on Nell's career path, and here she catches the eye of the king, who loves women, but does not bed young girls like Nell, who is just 13. As time passes, Nell rises to her natural role as a comic actress (in Restoration England, one step up from a whore) and has no qualms about using sex to rise yet higher. As her lovers grow in rank, she keeps the ultimate prize of the king's love in mind. Nell's life makes a lively story, but for all the wit and cleverness, the bawdy humor doesn't always translate into contemporary laughs. Just as affection, here, doesn't translate into security for Nell. (July)

    Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    More Reviews and Recommendations

    Biography

    Susan Holloway Scott is a graduate of Brown University.

    Customer Reviews

    • Reader Rating:
    • Ratings: 3Reviews: 2

    Delightful Readby emmi331

    Reader Rating:
    See Detailed Ratings

    January 04, 2009: Having read Royal Harlot (a novel of Lady Castlemaine) not long ago, I looked forward to Ms. Scott's fictionalized autobiography of another of Charles II's mistresses, and I wasn't disappointed. Saucy red-haired spitfire Nell Gwyn had her cap set for King Charles from the time she was a child, according to this novel. It isn't long before she captures his attention as an orange-seller at the King's Theatre, then secures a place as his mistress during her reign as the Theatre's queen of comedy. Ms. Scott has clearly researched the Restoration era diligently, with special attention to theatre, along with prominent personalities of the time. The genuine respect and affection between Charles II and his low-born mistress Nell are lovingly detailed. The author evidently hasn't finished with the king's legendary amorous exploits, as a novel of his French mistress Louise de Kerouaille is due out in a few months.

    I Also Recommend: Duchess, The Royal Harlot.

    This is an entertaining raunchy fictionalized memoirby harstan

    Reader Rating:
    See Detailed Ratings

    June 19, 2008: After two decades at the top of her profession Nell Gwynn ?never claimed to be a lady?. However, the royal mistress was proud how far she climbed from being a young teen in 1661 London working at Madam Ross? bawdy house. In 1662 at thirteen she obtains her first ?guardian? Mr. Duncan who protects her. A year later, Nell obtains works as an orange seller at the Royal Theater where the recently returned to the throne King Charles Stuart likes what he sees. She goes on stage and soon leaves the theater to perform her greatest and longest running role, two decades at Whitehall where lying backstabbers invoke the name of God, country and other babble to claim the moral high ground. However, she is the only one who lightens the load of King Charles II.-------------- This is an entertaining raunchy fictionalized memoir that brings alive from an ?insider?s? perspective a transformation period in English history as Cromwell is out and the Stuarts are back in. Nell comes across as intelligent and witty as she uses double entendres to get the better of hypocrites who claim to know what is morally best for others (sounds so contemporarily familiar). Genre fans will appreciate the life and times of THE KING?S FAVORITE, as the ?DUCHESS? of biographical fiction Susan Holloway Scott provides an insightful seventeenth century tale.---------- Harriet Klausner