LADIES IN WAITING

Author (last name first):Sullivan, Laura L.

Publisher,Date of Publication:Harcourt Children's Books/May 8, 2012

Grade Level/ or Age Level:  

9th Grade and Up
Classification: 
Fiction 


“Ladies in Waiting,” is about three young girls in 17^th-century England who attend King Charles II’s Catholic Portuguese princess wife, Catherine. Eliza wanted to be a playwright for the kings theater but her family know that a woman in a man’s profession will get her nowhere so they send her off to be a lady in waiting so that she will find a suitor. Beth is a commoner with no money. Her mother pushes her to marry well, despite her love for her childhood sweetheart, Henry. He promises to get enough money to support the both of them. While he is away Beth faces her mother’s wrath and is sent away to be a lady in waiting. Zabby comes to England in order to study more science. One night she enters a hotel and finds King Charles II very ill. She saves his life and feels a deep connection to him. While healing him she claims to be his mistress to hide the fact that he was deathly ill and soon becomes a lady in waiting. Eliza, Zabby and Beth, “The three Elizabeths, find themselves at the center of scandals and gossip at court in England as the three Ladies in Waiting.     Reviewed By: Lila Davis (Night Circulation Manager at Midwestern State University's Moffett Library)