Valerie Anand
{{Short description|British author of historical fiction (born 1937, died 2023)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{BLP sources|date=April 2012}}
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| birth_name = Valerie May Florence Stubington{{Cite web|url=http://www.crimefictioniv.com/Part_48.html|title=Part 48|work=Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-2000|first=Allen J|last=Hubin|accessdate=4 April 2025}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|7|6|df=y}}
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| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|1|13|1937|7|6}}
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| spouse = {{marriage|Dalip Singh Anand|1970}}
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Valerie May Florence Anand (née Stubington; 6 July 1937 – 13 January 2024) was an English author of historical fiction.{{cite book|last1=Shippey|first1=T. A.|last2=Arnold|first2=Martin|title=Film and Fiction: Reviewing the Middle Ages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZW_NxMH_JcC&pg=PA80|access-date=17 April 2012|date=2003-02-01|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-0-85991-772-8|pages=80–}}
Early life
Anand spent her early childhood in Kent before the Second World War broke out, after which her father joined the RAF while she and her mother went to live with his Aunt Clara in Leatherhead, Surrey. Her father's anecdotes from the war inspired Anand to later learn to fly a plane herself, training at London Biggin Hill.{{Cite web|url=https://faithljustice.com/readers-resources/interview-valerie-anand/|title=Author Interview: Valerie Anand (a.k.a. Fiona Buckley)|work=Divi|first=Faith L|last=Justice|accessdate=25 March 2025}}
Initially disinterested in history as a subject, Anand was influenced to write medieval historical fiction after seeing the film Ivanhoe (1952) in cinemas as a teenager.
Career
Anand began her career working as a secretary at Odhams Press before going into trade journalism and then industrial editing. She operated magazines for the furniture store Heal's and the engineering company Matthew Hall.{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/anand-valerie-1937-valerie-may-florence-anand-fiona-buckley|title=Anand, Valerie 1937- (Valerie May Florence Anand, Fiona Buckley)|work=Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series|publisher=Encyclopedia|accessdate=26 March 2025}}
Under the pen name Fiona Buckley{{cite book|last1=Charles|first1=John|last2=Clark|first2=Candace|last3=Hamilton-Selway|first3=Joanne|author4=Joanna Morrison|title=The Readers' Advisory Guide to Mystery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3v922ay0n34C&pg=PA72|access-date=17 April 2012|date=2011-11-30|publisher=ALA Editions|isbn=978-0-8389-1113-6|pages=72–}}{{cite book|last=Brunsdale|first=Mitzi|title=Gumshoes: A Dictionary of Fictional Detectives|url=https://archive.org/details/gumshoes00mitz|url-access=registration|access-date=17 April 2012|year=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33331-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gumshoes00mitz/page/418 418]–}} she wrote the series of historical mysteries, set in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, featuring "Ursula Blanchard" (whose full name is Ursula Faldene Blanchard de la Roche Stannard). Under her own name, she wrote historical fiction based on the royalty of England and the Bridges over Time series which follows a family from the eleventh century through the twentieth century. She has also written To a Native Shore, a contemporary novel that explores British prejudice toward Indian Sikhs.
Anand also held the copyrights to The Fallen Pinnacle, a 1997 novel about Atlantis written under the pseudonym Valerie M. Irwin.
=Innocence of King Richard III=
Valerie Anand was a believer in the innocence of King Richard III in the matter of the Princes in the Tower, i.e. a Ricardian. She presented this view in Crown of Roses, making the point that the former tutor of Edward V, John Alcock, remained on good terms with the king, which he presumably would not have done had he suspected him of being responsible for the death of his former student.Anand, Valerie (1989) Crown of Roses, p. 404
Personal life
Anand was a feminist and critical of the 1950s ideals of marriage and domestic life. At age 31, Anand met her future husband Dalip Singh Anand of Northern India. The couple married in 1970.
At the end of her life, Anand lived in Mitcham, South London.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4796644|title=Valerie Anand – Deceased Estates|work=The Gazette|accessdate=4 April 2025}}
Bibliography
=Ursula Blanchard mysteries=
- To Shield the Queen (1998) {{ISBN|0-671-01531-1}}
- The Doublet Affair (1998) {{ISBN|0-671-01532-X}}
- Queen's Ransom (2000) {{ISBN|0-671-03293-3}}
- To Ruin a Queen (2000) {{ISBN|0-671-03294-1}}
- Queen of Ambition (2002) {{ISBN|0-7434-1030-0}}
- A Pawn for a Queen (2002) {{ISBN|0-7432-0265-1}}
- Fugitive Queen (2004) {{ISBN|0-7434-5748-X}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780743237512|title=THE FUGITIVE QUEEN: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court|work=Publishers Weekly|date=26 July 2017|accessdate=4 April 2025}}
- The Siren Queen (2004) {{ISBN|0-7432-3752-8}}
- Queen Without a Crown (2011) {{ISBN|9781780295145}}
- Queen's Bounty (2012) {{ISBN|9781780295275}}
- A Rescue for a Queen (2013){{ISBN|9781780295374}}
- A Traitor's Tears (2014) {{ISBN|9781780295435}}
- A Perilous Alliance (2015) {{ISBN|9781780295855}}
- The Heretic's Creed (2017) {{ISBN|9781780295749}}
- A Deadly Betrothal (2017) {{ISBN|9781780295800}}
- A Web of Silk (2019) {{ISBN|9781780295930}}
=''Bridges Over Time'' series=
- The Proud Villeins (1992) {{ISBN|0-312-08282-7}}
- The Ruthless Yeomen (1991) {{ISBN|0-312-08884-1}}
- The Women of Ashdon (1993) {{ISBN|0-312-09417-5}}
- The Faithful Lovers (1993) {{ISBN|0-312-10979-2}}
- The Cherished Wives (1996) {{ISBN|0-312-13943-8}}
- The Dowerless Sisters (1995) {{ISBN|0-7472-1267-8}}
=''Norman'' series=
- Gildenford (1977) {{ISBN|0-684-14896-X}}
- The Norman Pretender (1982) {{ISBN|0-684-16099-4}}
- The Disputed Crown (1982) {{ISBN|0-684-17629-7}}
=Other historical novels=
- King of the Wood (1984) {{ISBN|0-312-02939-X}} (2016) {{ISBN|978-1861514578}}
- based on King William Rufus
- Crown of Roses (1989) {{ISBN|0-312-03315-X}}
- based on the end of the Wars of the Roses
- The House of Lanyon - The Exmoor Saga (2007) {{ISBN|978-0-7783-2502-4}}
- Story of Richard Lanyon, his descendants, and his landlords the Sweetwaters
- The House Of Allerbrook - The Exmoor Saga (2008) {{ISBN|978-1-74116-676-7}}
- Story of Jane Sweetwater (Allerbrook)
=Other novels=
- To a Native Shore: A Novel of India (1984) {{ISBN|0-684-18007-3}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://copperfieldreview.stormer.net/?p=396 Interview with Valerie Anand]
- [http://romaunce.com/portfolio/king-of-the-wood/ King Of The Wood by Valerie Anand]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anand, Valerie}}
Category:British women aviators
Category:English feminist writers
Category:English women editors
Category:English women historical novelists
Category:English women mystery writers
Category:People from Leatherhead
Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period
Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
Category:Writers of historical mysteries
Category:20th-century English novelists
Category:21st-century English novelists
Category:21st-century English women writers
Category:20th-century English women writers
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