The ‘Young and Lonely King’ charts the life of Prince Charles, Duke of Albany, an embattled boy who was baptised in anticipation of an early death. The result is a historical tale that is steeped in tragedy as Jane Lane brings to life a man masked in misery. From the death of his brother, Henry, which left him lonely, vulnerable and under the influence of Buckingham, to his disastrous marriage with Henrietta Maria, a spoilt, capricious woman, this is a very human tale about a very human king. Elaine K. Dakers was born in 1905 and her first novel was published when she was just seventeen. She adopted the pen-name of Jane Lane to reflect the historical nature of her books, Lane being the maiden name of her grandmother, a descendant of the Herefordshire branch of Lanes who sheltered King Charles II after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. A versatile and dynamic author, Jane Lane wrote over forty works of fiction, biography, history, and children’s books. She is perhaps best known for her books about the Stuart period and 18th century Scotland, written from a Catholic and Royalist perspective. ‘A State of Mind’ is unique among her books, being set in a dystopian future. She died in 1978. ‘Miss Lane towers head and shoulders above the rest’ – The New Statesman ‘A writer who offers…faithfulness to historical fact and style’ – The Sunday Times ‘One of the few contemporary writers who excel both as novelists and historians’ – The Tablet