“A Health Unto His Majesty” opens with an over-detailed description of King Charles II returning to England after spending several years as a wandering exile. It takes a while before we get any drama, which is sadly in short supply throughout the novel, owing to too much “telling”, and little “showing”.

The novel’s main focus is on Charles’s wife Catherine, his chief mistress Barbara. The women’s respective personalities are complete opposites. My sympathy was all with Catherine.

I like the untypical relationship between Charles and Catherine. The scenes that feature them together have the best drama elements in the novel. Those featuring Charles and Barbara feel too over the top to me, though other readers may well prefer these.

Generally, the narrative is slow moving, partly because of the lack of action, and partly because of the consistent use of the passive voice. It’s dry information we get, rather than a lively story. The author uses a lot of reported speech, which she would’ve been better off changing to dialogue to bring the characters to life, rather than explain what they've said.

When the story moves onto the plague of 1665, I hoped for more riveting scenes. I expected to see how this horrific experience affected the main characters. Sadly, the author switches to pure non-fiction mode. Instead of drama, action, and suspense, we get a summary of dry facts.

Same thing happens when we come to the Great Fire of London. We see nothing of how this terrifying event makes the main characters feel. Instead, we get prose at its most passive:

“Mr. Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Navy, reached Whitehall and asked for an audience with the King; he told him all that was happening in the City, and begged him to give instant orders that houses be demolished, for only thus could such a mighty conflagration be brought to a halt. The King agreed that the houses which stood in the way of the fire must be pulled down.”

After the fire, we get scenes that could’ve provided great drama and characterisation, but again, the author chooses reported speech and a dry summary:

“It was true they had not been paid. The King would remedy that as soon as it were possible to do so. They had fought gallantly. Would they tell themselves that they had fought for their country, and would that suffice for a temporary reward? He promised them that they should be paid—in time.”

Something about Jean Plaidy’s books keep me coming back for more. Perhaps it’s her love for English and French history, which I share, that draws me back. I wish she’d focused less on turning out as greater quantity of novels as possible and concentrated more on quality writing. A novel like this one should be revised about 20 times, yet this at best feels like a fifth draft. ( )

I actually read this before as part of the Charles II saga but it is also part of the Stuart Saga which I am now reading and wanted to read them all in order. I loved this book as I do practically with all Jean Plaidy's books. ( )

I loved this second book in the trilogy about Charles II of England. I wish I could put into the right words how this author wrote as she takes each novel and sort of rewinds with characters from the previous book. I thought it was great genius and made it so interesting. I found the characters realistic and I did some research - especially on Barbara and boy she truly was as she is depicted in the book - how Charles put up with it I don't know. Thoroughly enjoyed and now finishing the trilogy out with Book #3. ( )

lots of historical info. informative. and well written. ( )

This is the second book in Jean Palidy's trilogy about Charles II. This volume concerns his relationships with his wife, Catherine of Braganza and his long-time mistress, Barbara, Countess of Castelmaine. A s usual with Plaidy's historical fiction, this book is meticulously researched andf besides reading about his love life, the reader will learn a lot about the intrigues surrounding the reign of Charles II. My favorite tidbit of information was learning the origin of the word cabal. ( )