Anand, Valerie 1937- (Valerie May Florence Anand, Fiona Buckley)

PERSONAL:

Born July 6, 1937, in London, England; daughter of John McCormick (a proofreader) and Florence (a dressmaker) Stubington; married Dalip Singh Anand (a civil servant), March 26, 1970. Education: Attended convents and local public school. Politics: "Not much, as ideologies seem to me to be ‘package deals’ in ideas." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, cats, food, good wine, the southwest corner of England.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Surrey, England. Agent—David Grossman, David Grossman Literary Agency, 118B Holland Park Ave., London W11 4VA, England.

CAREER:

Novelist. Typist, Sudanese Embassy, 1956; secretary and typist, Odhams Press, 1956-59; Quarry Managers Journal, London, England, secretary and sub-editor, 1959-60; Institute of British Launderers, London, assistant public relations officer, 1960-63; Accountancy, London, reporter on office equipment, 1963-66; Index to Office Equipment, Croyden, Surrey, England, reporter and feature writer, 1966-68; E.J. Poole Associates, London, public relations officer and feature writer on business systems, 1968-71; Heal & Son Ltd., London, assistant editor, 1971-72, editor of company publication, 1972-75; Matthew Hall PLC (engineering group), London, editor of company publication, 1975-88; full-time novelist, 1989—.

MEMBER:

British Association of Industrial Editors, Tolkien Society, Society of Authors, Crime Writer's Association, Romantic Novelists' Association, Exmoor Society.

WRITINGS:

HISTORICAL NOVELS

Gildenford (first novel in "Wessex Trilogy"), Scribner (New York, NY), 1977.

The Norman Pretender (second novel in "Wessex Trilogy"), Scribner (New York, NY), 1979.

The Disputed Crown (third novel in "Wessex Trilogy"), Scribner (New York, NY), 1982.

King of the Wood, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.

Crown of Roses, St. Martin's Press, (New York, NY), 1989.

The Proud Villeins, Headline (London, England), 1990, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

The Ruthless Yeoman, Headline (London, England), 1991, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Women of Ashdon, Headline (London, England), 1992, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

West of Sunset, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1992.

The Faithful Lovers, Headline (London, England), 1993, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

The Cherished Wives, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.

"URSULA BLANCHARD" MYSTERY SERIES: UNDER PSEUDONYM FIONA BUCKLEY

To Shield the Queen, Scribner (New York, NY), 1997, published as The Robsart Mystery, Orion (London, England), 1997.

The Doublet Affair, Scribner (New York, NY), 1998.

Queen's Ransom, Scribner (New York, NY), 2000.

To Ruin a Queen, Scribner (New York, NY), 2000.

Queen of Ambition, Scribner (New York, NY), 2001.

A Pawn for a Queen, Scribner (New York, NY), 2002.

The Fugitive Queen, Scribner (New York, NY), 2003.

The Siren Queen, Scribner (New York, NY), 2004.

OTHER

To a Native Shore: A Novel of India, Scribner (New York, NY), 1984.

Contributor of articles to Surrey Life and Accountancy and of short stories, under pseudonym Fiona Buckley, to Evening News.

ADAPTATIONS:

Several of Anand's novels have been adapted as audiotapes.

SIDELIGHTS:

British historical novelist Valerie Anand is critically acclaimed for her ability to paint a picture of life during various periods in English history by blending fictional material with historical fact. Her "Wessex Trilogy" is a good example of this fusion. The series, which contains the novels Gildenford, The Norman Pretender, and The Disputed Crown, examines the way of life, the politics, and the events that took place during the Norman Conquest of England. Anand provides readers with glimpses into the lifestyles of both the English and the Normans, and explores the friction that resulted from the melding of these cultures during times of battle and after the English were conquered. She presents two major types of characters: those who resist the new rule and those who succumb to it. Books and Bookmen reviewer Cara Chanteau described the final novel of the trilogy, The Disputed Crown, as "humorous, entertaining, astute and very moving." Susan Branch, writing in Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, proclaimed that Anand's "artfulness lies in avoiding the two main downfalls of the historical novelist: creating characters who are really just 20th-century people in fancy dress, and creating characters who are totally alien to modern readers."

In 1984 Anand took a break from historical writing and produced the contemporary novel, To a Native Shore: A Novel of India. The book is the story of Melanie Purvis, a woman who must deal with her emotions following a move from her homeland in England to a foreign land with her husband, Dr. Avtar Singh. Melanie is forced to decide how she feels about her situation during a return visit to England. Branch called To a Native Shore "an excellent contemporary romance." The novel reflects its author's own circumstances, as Anand is married to a Sikh born in Punjab, India. "I have found the resulting introduction into Indian society an enthralling experience," she once noted. "It is very interesting to get ‘inside’ a culture other than one's own. This may have something to do with the attraction history has for me."

Anand returned to historical fiction with her "Bridges over Time" series, the first book of which, The Proud Villeins, a Publishers Weekly contributor called a "sweeping, often moving tale of English medieval life." The series follows the adventures of the Whitmead family as it moves from serfdom to the lower gentry over the course of several centuries. The first novel features the Norman knight, Ivon de Clairpont, taken captive in England and turned into a serf or villein. In The Ruthless Yeomen the family remain serfs, but one of the women achieves a degree of freedom by marrying a craftsman. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly praised this second novel in the series as a "a moving tale of courageous men and women who, though brutalized by their surroundings, nurture the spark of hope." The third novel of the series, Women of Ashdon, is set during the War of the Roses when the Whitmead clan is beginning to gain a degree of class respectability. A Publishers Weekly contributor commended "Anand's shrewd and colorful depictions of powerful leaders of the epoch" in this novel. The Faithful Lovers carries the series forward to the fifth volume, The Cherished Wives, set in both England and India during the eighteenth century. Another Publishers Weekly critic had high praise for The Cherished Wives and the "Bridges over Time" series as a whole, noting that this "turbulent, ongoing saga remains a delight."

With To Shield the Queen, Anand began an historical mystery series which she published using the pseudonym Fiona Buckley. The series is set in court during the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I. The protagonist is Ursula Blanchard, one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting. In The Doublet Affair, Ursula goes undercover to a country estate to spy on some suspected sympathizers of Mary, Queen of Scots. She is ably assisted by Fern Dale and Roger Brackley, a married couple who are her servants. A Publishers Weekly writer enjoyed The Doublet Affair, calling Ursula a "witty and courageous" heroine. The reviewer stated that the author stands out among historical mystery writers "for the attention and skill she brings not only to suspenseful plotting but to the setting that supports it."

In 2000's Queen's Ransom, Ursula is sent to France as part of Elizabeth's efforts to secure the support of French Protestants. Her mission is perilous, since even the guards assigned to protect her may not be trustworthy. Anand's thorough research for this novel was praised by a Publishers Weekly reviewer, who described Anand's protagonist as "amusingly modern" and "a woman with a '90s attitude living in the 1560s." Ursula's adventures continue in To Ruin a Queen, which opens while she is still in France, having endured the tragedy of a stillborn child. Ursula becomes further distraught after she receives news from England that her daughter Meg has been kidnapped. She hurries home from France, only to discover that the kidnapping was a ruse to draw her back across the channel. This time a blackmail plot threatens the queen, and foiling it necessitates Ursula's journey to a haunted castle. Accusations of witchcraft, star-crossed love affairs, and the bubonic plague are all woven into a plot described by GraceAnne A. DeCandido in Booklist as "an absorbing page-turner."

Queen of Ambition showcases Anand's "usual flare in dealing with murder and intrigue," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. The year is now 1564 and Ursula and Meg are still in England waiting for the plague to subside so they can rejoin Ursula's husband in France. Meanwhile, a request from Elizabeth's secretary results in Ursula's visit to London, disguised as a housekeeper. Her task: to discover whether an assassination attempt is being planned against the queen at a forthcoming student play to which Elizabeth has been invited. As usual, Ursula's investigation uncovers more than she expects, as she confronts a suspicious death, coded messages, and a missing person in a "suspenseful" novel that features the author's usual mix of historical facts and fast-paced fiction, according to the Publishers Weekly contributor.

Ursula's adventures continue in A Pawn for a Queen, a "cleverly plotted whodunit, jam-packed with action, suspense, and court intrigue," as Booklist contributor Margaret Flanagan described it. Ursula once again becomes involved in the intrigues of Mary Queen of Scots and also becomes the unwilling object of the affections of a traitorous Scots nobleman. More court intrigue is presented in The Fugitive Queen, the seventh book in the series. Once more Ursula is called upon to serve her majesty, this time by delivering a secret message to the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots under the pretext of visiting a young lady at court. A Kirkus Reviews critic felt that the author "effectively dramatizes the tangled personal and political obligations of the Elizabethan court," while Booklist contributor Flanagan thought that "intrigue and suspense reign supreme in another tautly constructed Elizabethan mystery."

In The Siren Queen, Ursula becomes involved in murder and mayhem involving a Florentine banker plotting against the queen. Meanwhile her daughter Meg seems to be involved with an unsuitable suitor, who may have connections to the same plot. A Publishers Weekly reviewer found this an "excellent" novel that "offers fine writing and deft plotting while vividly bringing the past to life." Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews critic felt that "political conspiracy and personal betrayal make this a strong outing," while Flanagan, writing in Booklist, noted this "Elizabethan mystery [is] steeped in intrigue and suspense."

Anand once told CA: "I first became interested in history at the age of fifteen when I saw MGM's film of Ivanhoe. I began reading history in secret, due to the fear that, if the school found out, I would be pounced on and forced to take it seriously, which would wreck the fun and sense of adventure. The deception worked. I enjoyed history on the side and my school reports complained bitterly of my lack of interest in this subject.

"I picked historical fiction as opposed to any other sort of writing, because I was in love with a bit of history. I regard a novelist's function primarily as entertainment: it doesn't matter what you write about as long as it can take someone's mind off his income tax or his influenza.

"Fiction—historical or otherwise—can be a means of exploring human dilemmas and extending situations imaginatively to see where they lead. Historical fiction in particular allows one to examine, [for instance], the position of people in an occupied country without the issues being clouded by the reader's (or the author's) own personal loyalties. In other words, you can see the problem more objectively if you write about Normans and Saxons than if you write about occupied France or Israel vs. Palestine."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Vasudevan, Aruna, editor, Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers, third edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1994.

PERIODICALS

American Libraries, February, 1999, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 61.

Booklist, December 15, 1998, Ilene Cooper, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 728; January 1, 1999, Bill Ott, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 839; November 1, 1999, Whitney Scott, review of audio version of To Shield the Queen, p. 551; June 1, 2000, Karen Harris, review of sound recording of The Doublet Affair, p. 1920; December 1, 2000, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of To Ruin a Queen, p. 695; December 1, 2002, Margaret Flanagan, review of A Pawn for a Queen, p. 648; November 1, 2003, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Fugitive Queen, p. 481; November 1, 2004, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Siren Queen, p. 466.

Books and Bookmen, March, 1983, Cara Chanteau, review of The Disputed Crown, p. 34.

British Book News, May, 1984, review of To a Native Shore: A Novel of India, p. 327.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1977, review of Gildenford, p. 366; November 1, 1979, review of The Norman Pretender, p. 1272; November 1, 1983, review of To a Native Shore, p. 1134; April 15, 1994, review of The Faithful Lovers, p. 491; October 15, 1998, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 1495; November 15, 2000, review of To Ruin a Queen, p. 1575; September 15, 2003, review of The Fugitive Queen, p. 1155; September 1, 2004, review of The Siren Queen, p. 838.

Library Journal, December, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of Queen's Ransom, p. 191; November 1, 2004, Rex E. Klett, review of The Siren Queen, p. 62.

New York Times Book Review, January 22, 1984, Barbara Thompson, review of To a Native Shore, p. 17.

Publishers Weekly, August 17, 1992, review of The Proud Villeins, p. 489; January 25, 1993, review of The Ruthless Yeomen, p. 79; June 7, 1993, review of Women of Ashdon, p. 53; June 13, 1994, review of The Faithful Lovers, p. 52; November 13, 1995, review of The Cherished Wives, p. 49; October 26, 1998, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 46; December 20, 1999, review of Queen's Ransom, p. 59; November 20, 2000, review of To Ruin a Queen, p. 49; November 12, 2001, review of Queen of Ambition, p. 38; November 17, 2003, review of The Fugitive Queen, p. 48; October 4, 2004, review of The Siren Queen, p. 73.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 1999, review of The Doublet Affair, p. 111; December, 1998, review of To Shield the Queen, p. 332.

Washington Post Book World, December 5, 1982, review of The Disputed Crown, p. 8; March 4, 1984, Judith Chettle, review of To a Native Shore, p. 6.

ONLINE

Copperfield Review,http://www.copperfieldreview.com/ (February 19, 2007), Faith L. Justice, "History's Mysteries: How Valerie Anand Brings Them to Life."