The Perfect Royal Mistress

The book I recently finished is called The Perfect Royal Mistress.  The main character in it is a teenaged girl named Nell Gwyn.  She is very poor, and living above a pub in London with her mother and sister.  Nell was born around 1657, during the reign of King Charles II.  Nell sells oranges in the pit of the King's Theatre to try to scrape some money together, but she doesn't make hardly anything.  She is very witty, and is very good at using quick comments and remarks to make people laugh.  Because of this, Nell quickly becomes the best orange seller in the pit.  She befriends Richard Bell, an actor, and he realizes that she would be great in the comedy plays the theatre puts on.  The manager and head actor, Charles Hart, doesn't want to give Nell the part, because it was kind of a major part, but he decides to give Nell a chance.  She is absolutely wonderful, and quickly advances to the head comedy actress.  

King Charles loves the theatre, and often goes to watch the plays.  Nell catches his eye, and he falls in love with her.  You have to understand that King Charles has many mistresses, so this was not uncommon for him.  Nell became Charles's mistress, and they fell in love.  The three most important differences between Nell and Charles's other mistresses is 1: she actually loved Charles, and didn't just love his title. 2: Nell understood that he had, and would always have, other mistresses, and made her peace with it.  3: Nell was a commoner, and she didn't come with the problems about rank, money, and position in the court that all Charles's other mistresses have.  Charles loved Nell, and gave her houses, clothes, and jewels.  Nell had two sons in the 11 years Nell and Charles were together, named Charles and James.  When Charles died in 1685, Nell never married. 

This book is absolutely wonderful, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great history novel.  By the way, The Perfect Royal Mistress was written by Diane Haeger.  I hope you enjoy this book!