Barbara Ovstedal Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of The Warwycks Books

as Rosalind Laker

Barbara Ovstedal was a renowned author hailing from the United Kingdom, who used to write romance and historical fiction novels. She used to write under the pen names of Barbara Douglas and Barbara Paul. Later, when original Barbara Paul started writing and then began gaining recognition for her work, author Ovstedal decided to change her pen name to Rosaling Laker. Since the day she changed her pseudonym, she has written all her future books under the new pseudonym. Author Ovstedal was born on October 3, 1921 in Bognor Regis, the UK. And she died on November 23, 2012. Ovstedal had written numerous standalone books in her career. Some of her most popular books include To Dance With Kings and The Sugar Pavilion. Ovstedal has once said in an interview that she was destined to become a writer as she had written numerous compositions in English in her school days that had helped her score top marks in the examinations. Author Ovstedal was given the advice to never give up her writing by her English teacher on the day she left school. She took this advice seriously and went on to excel in her writing career. Her success as an author can be easily understood from the fact that her books have been released in more than 20 different languages.

After leaving school, author Ovstedal acquired a 3 year scholarship at an art school that allowed her to study about the historical costumes. This study made her so perfect about the costumes that she was able to date any painting by just looking at the clothes. This is also one of the primary reasons for the correct descriptions of the clothes of her characters in her books. Author Ovstedal was married with a Norwegian man named Inge. After her marriage, she used to spend her summers in Norway. She loved the beautiful and secluded valley in Norway, where her home was located. Soon after her marriage, Ovstedal became a mother of two children. It was only after her children grew up that she realized she had ample amount of time to start writing. The first step that she took towards novel writing is buying an old typewriter. At first, author Ovstedal wrote a small article and sent it to the country life publishers. The article got accepted and was followed by innumerable other articles for various magazines. One day, author Ovstedal read a short story in one of the women’s magazines and felt the urge to try her hand at writing a romantic fiction novel. Her attempt at writing a romance story was accepted by the very first publisher. This motivated her to write many more books based on the romance genre in her later career. Many of the novels of author Ovstedal have historical settings and depict tales of rivalry, heartache, and love.

An initial book written by author Barbara Ovstedal in her literary career is entitled ‘To Dance With Kings’. This book was released by the Broadway Books in the year 2007, after its original release in 1988. Author Ovstedal has set the story of this book at the time of the year 1664 in Versailles, and has mentioned the primary characters as King Louis XIV, Marguerite, Jasmin, Violette, Marie Antoinette, Rose, etc. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that on one fine morning in 1664, numerous aristocrats gather in a small Versailles village to pay court to Louis XIV. On the same day, a peasant gives birth to a girl named Marguerite. The mother becomes determined to provide a better life to her daughter, unlike the one she had to live. Subsequently, she promises herself to break her daughter’s poverty bonds and fulfills her destiny of dance with the kings. Just by chance, a drunk nobleman becomes a witness of Marguerite’s birth and recklessly promises the mother that he will come back after 17 years to take her. With these fateful words of the nobleman, a series of events are set in motion, which span 3 monarchies and affect the lives of 4 generations of women. After growing up, Marguerite goes on to become a part of the Sun King’s royal court. However, her fairy tale existence gets torn apart because of a sudden change in the political setup. Marguerite’s daughter, Jasmin, gets to live the privileged life that her grandmother had dreamed for Marguerite. But, she tempts her fate by doing the dare of catching the king’s eye. Marguerite’s granddaughter, Violette, gets a life among the Versailles’ nobles. And her daughter, Rose, goes on to find herself as the confidante and lay in waiting to Marie Antoinette. It is through Rose that the love lost generations form a full circle. Meanwhile, the whole of Versailles begins to shake with the chaos of an upcoming revolution. Author Ovstedal has described this book as a generational tale of promises kept, monarchies shattered, loves lost, and dreams broken. Overall, the story is full of passion, privilege, limitless ambition, and humble beginnings.

Another interesting book written by Ovstedal is called ‘The Venetian Mask’. The Broadway Books released this book too in 2008, after its first release in 1992. Author Ovstedal has set this book’s plot in Venice, Italy, during the year 1775, and has depicted the main characters as Elena, Marietta, Domenico Torrisi, etc. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Venice was known to the outsiders as Europe’s brothel during the 18th century. There was a tradition of wearing masks that had led to debauchery and adultery flourish on a large scale. Marietta and Elena are shown as two close friends living in the world famous music school and orphanage for girls, Ospedale della Pieta. These girls don’t have any idea of the adultery prevalent in Venice until they become young enough to understand. Elena gets forcefully married to the Celano clan’s head, who turns out to be a brutal and jealous man. Marietta is given away in marriage to Domenico Torrisi. Later, it is learned that the Torrisi and Celano clans share a centuries old vendetta against one another. And as per the tradition, the girls are not allowed to speak to each other now because of the vendetta. But, they seem to share an unbreakable bond that they consider much more superior than the vendetta. Just then, the French Revolution begins and Domenico gets framed by Elena’s husband and gets held as a prisoner. The women the plot to save Domenico. While doing so, the women learn that there are noble purposes of the Venetian masks as well. However, they wonder whether it is worth to put their lives at risk for it.