Eleanor Alice Burford

Eleanor Alice Burford
BornEleanor Alice Burford
(1906-09-01)1 September 1906
Canning Town, London, England
Died18 January 1993(1993-01-18) (aged 86)
At sea between Athens, Greece, and Port Said, Egypt
Pen nameJean Plaidy, Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr, Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Ellalice Tate, Anna Percival
OccupationNovelist
NationalityEnglish
CitizenshipBritish
Period1941–1993 (52 years)
GenreHistorical fiction, Gothic fiction, Romantic fiction
Notable awardsRomance Writers of America – Golden Treasure award
1989 Significant contribution to the romance genre
SpouseGeorge Percival Hibbert
Relatives
  • Joseph Burford (father)
  • Alice Louise Tate (mother)

Literature portal

Eleanor Alice Hibbert (née Burford; 1 September 1906 – 18 January 1993) was an English writer of historical romances. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty and the three volumes of her history of the Spanish Inquisition, Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. She also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.

In 1989, the Romance Writers of America gave her the Golden Treasure award in recognition of her contributions to the romance genre.[1] By the time of her death, she had written more than 200 books that sold more than 100 million copies and had been translated into 20 languages.[2] She continues to be a widely borrowed author among British libraries.[3]

  1. ^ "RWA Awards". Romance Writers of America (RWA). Archived from the original on 20 September 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Eleanor Hibbert, Novelist Known As Victoria Holt and Jean Plaidy". The New York Times. 21 January 1993. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  3. ^ Sedghi, Ami (8 February 2013). "Library lending figures: which books are most popular?". The Guardian UK. Retrieved 18 April 2014.