MEG ROPER

Meg Roper was the best loved daughter of Sir Thomas More. Intelligent, serious, spirited, she understood what it meant to be close to the King of England, the dangers inherent in the honers heaped upon a man who would not still his conscience to save his life. Jean Plaidy draws a pleasing portrait of the life at the Barge, then the Chelsea, with the scolding but affectionate Lady More running a household of daughters full, step and adopted, and sone Jack. Her own daughter Alice achieved a Court marriage; adopted Mercy started a hospital and won Dr. Clements' heart; two other daughters were taken care of as well. Meg married lawyer Will Roper, whose Lutheranism carried his to prison and show was saved only by Sir Thomas, who would not save himself when he was ordered to sign the Oath of Supremacy which would free Henry VIII to dispose of Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. Along with domestic felicity, the author gives a forthright although necessarily simplified, picture of More's life and times, in a historic novel that, underlines personal relationships and offers a satisfactory portion of romance.