Monthly Archives: October 2022

The King’s Secret Matter (1962) by Jean Plaidy

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Sheffield Hallam student Laya Turnbull explores a vintage historical novel new to her.

Upon first searching the name of this book, even before I had read the first page, I assumed the novel would sacrifice the emotion and feeling to stay historically accurate to the story of Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Even though this event is dramatic in itself when I had been taught about this in school as I studied and enjoyed history in my GCSEs and A levels it was made to seem like a drab story of divorce and infidelity and could not even be compared to the romance drama we see in other fiction and on television today. However, Plaidy seems to rewrite this story perfectly conveying the emotion of a wife going through her husband’s affair and eventual betrayal without sacrificing the facts that lead to the divorce.

The novel takes place twelve years after King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon and they have become involved in a loveless marriage. It also takes place when their daughter Princess Mary is a child and not regarded as a suitable heir to the throne. Henry’s desire for a legitimate son and his interest in the young Anne Boleyn causes a power struggle that ruins the lives of Catherine and Mary. We also see the struggle Henry has to secure a divorce and the relationship he has with Cardinal Wolsey that is shown as a devious puppeteer controlling the king.

Whilst I was reading the book I felt a strong sense of nostalgia because it reminded me of reading the historical fiction books by Philippa Gregory whilst I was in school. Much like Reading Sheffield interviewee Gillian Applegate who said in an interview that she had ‘always had a love for history’ and also mentions that she liked the novels of Jean Plaidy which I feel is very similar to how I feel. We both have a love for history and reading and so we both enjoy the historical fiction genre. Gregory’s books sparked my interest in historical fiction as I loved history in school and researching parts of history I enjoyed in my spare time. I enjoyed reading this book as I liked that I felt I already knew about parts of the historical events that Plaidy mentioned. For example when she mentions the Field of the Cloth of Gold in the first few chapters, I had studied it in school also. I liked the feeling that I was building on my knowledge of the Tudors whilst also being entertained by the plot. I also liked how the novel humanised people who were originally thought as emotionless or people that we forget were actual human beings. For example the portrayal of Queen Mary as a child and her naivety and hopes at the beginning of the book contradicts the name Bloody Mary which we all mostly know her as because of her brutal genocide of the Protestants.

My past experience reading historical fiction is very limited and included some novels by Philippa Gregory and a young adult novel that gave an account of the Babington Plot that was also in the Tudor period. Similarly to these novels I felt that The King’s Secret Matter perfectly balanced the factual events with the fictional thoughts and feelings. Eleanor Alice Burford or Jean Plaidy, her pen name, wrote The King’s Secret Matter in 1962 as the fourth addition to her Tudor series. She was known for her historical romances but wrote for many other genres under other pseudonyms. She is also the 71st most borrowed author of 1990-1991 according to a report about the top 100 most borrowed authors in the UK (British Library, 2017). This shows that her relevance did not diminish – the interest in historical fiction continues even thirty years after she published her novels and she still has a ‘strong presence in British public libraries today’ (Wallace, 2005). The media reviews to the novel have been very consistent praising Plaidy for her ability to write historical fiction. Her novels were popular in many countries, her books having been translated into 20 different languages and the New York Times named her a ‘pioneer of the romantic suspense and gothic genre.’ (Lambert 1993).

I felt that reading this book was easy compared to the others I have had to read for other university endeavours. All of the books I read at the moment or in the past year have all been for my course. The King’s Secret Matter is the first one I have read for a while that I feel I did partly choose for myself which meant that I felt more interested and engaged in the actual plot and story, instead of trying to focus on understanding the book and what I could interpret from it which I have to do for the other books and texts for university. I found that I could actually enjoy this novel without any pressure because I knew I had chosen the book purposely as I knew historical fiction was something I enjoyed reading when I was younger.

After reading the novel my interest in history and especially the Tudor period was re sparked. Reading this novel made me want to continue to feed my interest in history so I started to listen to the podcast You’re Dead to Me where Greg Jenner talks with experts and comedians about different historical events. This will allow me to easily continue my interest in history and can still fit in with my busy schedule as a student. Also I would like to start reading the rest of Jean Plaidy’s Tudor saga because I really enjoyed reading and researching The King’s Secret Matter and will hopefully continue with my interest with historical fiction and romance.

Here is Laya’s reading journey.

Laya Turnbull’s reading journey

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Laya, a student at Sheffield Hallam University, has written her reading journey for us, as part of her Ideas into Action module.

My first memories of reading for myself, as a younger sibling who wanted be just like her older sister, began with me copying and reading whatever my sister who is two and a half years older was reading at that time because as a child she was also an avid reader and would often share the books after she had read them. This included the Mr Men series by Roger Hargreaves and the Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows but as a small child I could not understand or read properly but enjoyed the colour and trying to collect the whole series. These books still hold sentimental value to me today as I have kept the whole collection in my childhood room as I feel unable to throw them away. Also they still hold relevance to my life today as these books are the theme for my good friend’s birthday party in a few weeks. This shows the sentimental value these sorts of books have for everyone my age and the nostalgia they still have for many people. In talking to my mum about this blog to gather research from her about my childhood reading habits, she told me that when I was little I was also almost obsessed with a book called Eat Your Peas [by Kes Gray]. In this book Daisy’s mother tries to get her to eat her vegetable by promising her increasingly outrageous treats which according to my mum reflected my own attitude to peas when I was younger.

I loved reading as a child and getting read to by my Mum and Dad. However my love for reading declined when I got to secondary school and being forced to read made me lose the enjoyment I once had from it. During this time only choosing short and easy to read stories that probably didn’t interest me just to say I had read something for school because we were made to read or at least look like we were reading during form time. Although my love for reading was regained during the summer and going on holidays when I was not in school. I would read two or three whole novels when on a week long holiday either on the beach or near the pool. I would still describe this as my paradise and my idea of heaven. At this age I tended to read young adult novels usually of the sci-fi or dystopian genre like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or The Maze Runner by James Dashner, as I loved the romantic subplots with the action packed scenes.

Surprisingly in school as I got older my love for reading increased again as I enjoyed learning about Shakespeare and the plays and poems we had to learn for my GCSEs and A Levels. My favourites were Macbeth, Othello and Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is still my favourite book to this day and sparked a small obsession with the 1920s aesthetic and even having a 1920s themed birthday party just last year where I dressed as a flapper girl. The poetry side of my schooling however was something I just had to endure. Even though I no longer have a hatred for all poetry I only enjoy small parts like the metaphysical poetry of John Donne and Andrew Marvell. As I got more back into reading I had felt I had missed out on the children’s books and young adult books that everyone was so captivated by. Because of this it was only recently that I decided to read the whole Harry Potter series and also became fixated as I understood why there was so much praise for the series.

Currently I enjoy reading the typical classics including Bram Stoker’s Dracula, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and most recently Pride and Prejudice which has sparked a new love for the romantic genre. I love the social commentary of George Orwell’s novels as it mostly reflects my own views on history and politics that I still think are relevant today as I and the author both support socialism. I also have found recently that I enjoy the horror genre after reading Stephen King’s Misery whose tension and unsettling nature stayed with me for weeks after. In the future I am going to read more of his novels. I most want to read Carrie and Pet Sematary. Furthermore, my wish to read lots of ‘classics’ is due to a poster I own where you have to scratch off the books you have read, called the ‘100 books bucket list’. This has prompted me and pushed me to start reading more again. I am making my way through this list slowly and steadily as some of the books on there are not something I would usually read but I feel like it would make me broaden my horizons and read more genres. I am continuing to try and read more of these classics but I am also currently interested in reading online newspapers, magazines and blogs because it feeds my desire to continue my interests in reading but they are short enough that my attention span is not tested and can fit into my busy life at university. I find that trying to fit reading long novels that I do enjoy is difficult to continue in my university life so just reading short newspaper articles and blogs and keeping up with current events is easier for me. I am currently reading Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn and its mystery genre is something I would like to continue reading.

Here is Laya’s review of The King’s Secret Matter by Jean Plaidy.

On the Beach (1957) by Nevil Shute

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By Herbie Williams

Here is our guest blogger Herbie Williams, from Sheffield Hallam University, on Nevil Shute and his novel On the Beach.  

I would not consider myself a fan of ‘classic’ books. Upon first reading the brief for the Reading Sheffield blogs and the list of authors and books, there was only a handful that I had previously heard of. Having read H G Wells’ War of the Worlds and the works of Dickens in A Christmas Carol years ago in my GCSE English lessons, the remaining books and authors were mostly unfamiliar to me. As I discussed in the previous blog about my reading journey, I would consider myself a picky reader, so few of the books stood out to me on paper. The novel I ended up selecting was the On the Beach by Nevil Shute. Judging on the name of the novel, I assumed this would be a fictional story about romance between surfers, hence I went into researching the novel with no expectations of enjoying it. However, after reading the synopsis for On the Beach, it immediately piqued my interest.

Published in 1957, On the Beach is a dystopian / post-apocalyptic novel often described as Nevil Shute’s most powerful and moving. Born in England in 1899, after his service in the Second World War he emigrated to Australia, where the novel is mostly set. The novel begins shortly after nuclear explosions wipe out almost all of western civilisation, with the radiation that followed slowly killing the rest. On the Beach tells a story of normal people living their normal life, including the crew of a remaining nuclear submarine. Initial optimism is short lived, as the community come to terms, knowing these are their last days on the poisonous earth of humanity’s own creation, despite the southern hemisphere having no involvement in the conflict causing it. Both I as a reader and the characters eventually accept that there is no escaping the invisible and inevitable death by the nuclear fallout. I thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal of the characters’ reaction to this, as they ridicule others as they make plans for the future only to continue with life as usual. I found myself strangely enthralled by the hopelessness and bleakness of the story, along with Shute’s matter-of-factly, almost cynical style of writing. There are no heroes or villains or silver linings in the story, just constant pessimism.

Alternate history and post-apocalyptic fiction has been a niche interest of mine for many years. One of my favourite video game franchises, Fallout, follows the narrative of our timeline diverging in the 1940s following the Second World War. In the Fallout universe, the nuclear paranoia of the Cold War never ceases, technology advances rapidly and yet the aesthetic of the 1950s remains strong all the way through to the final quarter of the 21st century, where humanity meets its apparent end as nuclear weapon-induced, mutually-assured destruction bombards western civilisation. There are multiple parallels between the two fictional realities that instantly drew my attention. While Fallout takes a more savage and truly apocalyptic approach to nuclear fallout, with the radiation causing freakish mutations to humans and animals, On the Beach explores humanity’s contrasting reaction to inevitable death, with civilisation continuing normally until accepting defeat in dignity. I had not previously considered this perspective of a post-apocalyptic society, making the premise of the book interest me more.

As I researched the media opinion of the novel and Nevil Shute in its release year, reviews and critiques were few and far between. The Daily Telegraph describe the book as ‘quietly and deliberately terrible’. However, two films based on and named after the novel were created in 1959 and 2000, meaning it was large enough in pop culture to be recognised in Hollywood despite not being a household name, at least to my knowledge. As the book was published a relatively short time after the end of the Second World War, and during the height of the Cold War, one can only imagine that the novel was even more terrifying and bleak to the general public historically, with nuclear war being a very real threat. Despite being dated and slightly naive in its understanding of a nuclear war, I think the novel holds up well today in terms of readability. However, I personally thought Shute’s presentation of female characters in the story to be rather rigid and simple, perhaps a sign of attitudes towards women in the 50s. Reading Sheffield interviewee Anne B is very familiar with the works of Shute, having read many of his novels but believed ‘none of them were as memorable as [On The Beach and A Town Like Alice]’.

Having started to read On the Beach expecting a slog, to say my experience with the book was a pleasant surprise is an understatement. Despite very much being a slow burner, Shute’s cold and detached writing style to reinforce the bleakness of the novel and ability to create incredibly powerful imagery had me gripped, disturbed and borderline depressed. The novel can be summarised by the final stanza in T.S. Eliot’s infamous 1925 poem, The Hollow Men – ‘This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.’

Here is Herbie’s reading journey.

Herbie Williams’ reading journey

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Herbie Williams is the latest of our guest bloggers from Sheffield Hallam University. Here he talks about how the Ideas into Action project helped him work out what reading means to him.

Having been born and bred in Sheffield in council estates far from where most of my primary school friends lived, entertainment in my early school years usually consisted of solo activities. Playing with Lego and Star Wars figures and Lego Star Wars: The Video Game were my favourite hobbies in my free time, but the one thing that kept me quiet for countless hours was reading. From the Mr Men and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Wide Mouthed Frog and Dirty Bertie to The Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise and their seemingly endless follow-up books that followed me throughout school (and admittedly much later as I picked up my brother’s copy of the newest addition to the series to keep up-to-date with Greg Heffley, the main character). I even went to school for World Book Day as Greg, an intricate costume consisting of jeans and a white t-shirt. Reading influenced and shaped me in more ways than meets the eye.

I have fond memories of using my torch to secretly read past my bedtime under my duvet and quickly pretending to be asleep after hearing footsteps on the stairs. Even when I was rumbled, my mum often didn’t scold me, usually giving a gentle slap on the wrist. This however was very much not the case when I got caught playing Mario Kart after my bedtime. She had always promoted reading as a healthy hobby for me and took a very active interest in making sure I had a steady supply of reading material. If there was a book from a series that I had enjoyed, my mum would scour the internet and local bookshops to find any sequels, prequels, spinoffs or anything in-between.

I’ve never really got into ‘the classics.’ Looking at the list of authors and books that were considered must-reads and realising I had not heard of most of them was quite daunting. Of all the titles in the reading list, only two of them had I read before. I had sometimes considered whether elitism may creep into reading, with some thinking that my motivations and attitudes towards reading may be looked down upon. Since writing this blog however, I came to the conclusion that this project was to get an accurate representation of what reading meant and means to me. It doesn’t matter whether I read for enjoyment or to gain more knowledge about a certain subject, only the journey that reading takes me on matters. It also gave me some level of comfort knowing that some of the Reading Sheffield interviewees held similar views and experiences regarding ‘classics’. The only one that came to mind that I enjoyed was William Golding’s Lord of the Flies when reading and analysing it at school but I never considered pursuing similar titles.

While to my peers at primary school reading was mainly a mandatory task or chore, to me reading was a favourite pastime. I treated my academic assigned reading as a time trial instead of enjoying the book and comprehending it as much as possible. Starting with Biff, Chip and Kipper and their adventures in The Magic Key by Oxford Reading Tree, the shelves of books at school to work through the various reading levels at school never interested me as I was a very picky reader. However, the reward for completing the reading levels was becoming a ‘free reader’. This meant I could read books of my own choosing from my own collection and claim it as my weekly reading homework. Even when I wasn’t reading, I was building up my vocabulary: one of my favourite games was finding new words on my pocket electronic thesaurus at school.

My family were another factor that influenced my reading journey – my grandparents. I went to my granny and grandad’s house at least once a week and indulged in cheese on toast and a very enthusiastic reading of The Tiger Who Came to Tea. A trip to the library where my granny volunteered to collect a new book or two to put me on for a few days was also commonplace.

Although as I entered sixth form and higher education my passion for reading was nowhere near what it once was. During the various lockdowns of 2020/21, I picked up my old Kindle out of boredom and flicked through some of my teenage years favourites: The Knife of Never Letting Go, the Gone series and my all-time favourite book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. It at least reminded me of my love for reading. Today, as other hobbies and commitments have taken priority over reading, I still bring a book with me on public transport or read for an hour or so before going to sleep.

Here is Herbie’s review of Nevil Shute’s novel, On the Beach.