Mistress of the boards

Nell Gwynne grew up in a bawdy house and earned her first pennies as an orange-seller at the Drury Lane Theatre in seventeenth-century London. So beautiful was she, so witty and self-possessed, that Thomas Killigrew, director of His Majesty's Players, took her into the company. Soon Nell was the leading comedienne of the city and all London lay at her feet, worshipping the impudent charm of this beautiful young actress. Her admirers ranged from an elderly beggar whom she had befriended to a solid London businessman who was the mainstay of her life. She lived for a time with Charles Hart, the temperamental male lead of the company, and then with the adoring Lord Buckhurst. But it is the King himself who was foremost among Nell's admirers, and the sweet, tempestuous story of their love is at the center of this book. For in their relationship, Nell comes to her true haven and Charles the King finds the love he thought would forever be denied a monarch. Mistress o f the Boards is rich in the color of London, of the seventeenth-century Court, and of the theatre. With Nell, we live through a virulent plague that brought normal life to a stand-still. We experience the great fire of London, see whole areas consumed by flames, struggle side by side with the King himself to confine the destruction and save the people. The book gives flesh and excitement to real events and historical figures and engages the reader's close attention from beginning to end.