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Charlotte Lamb


(Sheila Ann Mary Coates Holland)
UK flag (1937 - 2000)
Mother of Sarah Holland and Jane Holland

aka Sheila Coates, Laura Hardy, Sheila Holland, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf

heila Ann Mary Coates Holland
aka Sheila Holland, Sheila Coates, Charlotte Lamb, Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Woolf, Laura Hardy

Sheila Ann Mary Coates was born on 1937 in Essex, England, just before the Second World War in the East End of London. As a child, she was moved from relative to relative to escape the bombings of World War II. Sheila attended the Ursuline Convent for Girls. On leaving school at 16, the convent-educated author worked for the Bank of England as a clerk. Sheila continued her education by taking advantage of the B of E's enormous library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the BBC. While there, she met and married Richard Holland, a political reporter. A voracious reader of romance novels, she began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days with three children underfoot! In between raising her five children (including a set of twins), Charlotte wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, Sheila Holland and Sheila Coates, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Mills & Boon in 1973. She also used the pennames: Sheila Lancaster, Victoria Wolf and Laura Hardy. Sheila was a true revolutionary in the field of romance writing. One of the first writers to explore the boundaries of sexual desire, her novels often reflected the forefront of the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s. Her books touched on then-taboo subjects such as child abuse and rape, and she created sexually confident - even dominant - heroines. She was also one of the first to create a modern romantic heroine: independent, imperfect, and perfectly capable of initiating a sexual or romantic relationship. A prolific author, Sheila penned more than 160 novels, most of them for Mills & Boon. Known for her swiftness as well as for her skill in writing, Sheila typically wrote a minimum of two thousand words per day, working from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. While she once finished a full-length novel in four days, she herself pegged her average speed at two weeks to complete a full novel. Since 1977, Sheila had been living on the Isle of Man as a tax exile with her husband and four of their five children: Michael Holland, Sarah Holland, Jane Holland, Charlotte Holland and David Holland. Sheila passed away on October 8, 2000 in her baronial-style home 'Crogga' on the Island. She is greatly missed by her many fans, and by the romance writing community.
 

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance
 
Series
Enemies & Lovers
   1. Possession (1979)
   2. A Secret Intimacy (1983)
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Barbary Wharf
   1. Besieged (1992)
   2. Battle for Possession (1992)
   3. Too Close for Comfort (1992)
   4. Playing Hard to Get (1992)
   5. A Sweet Addiction (1992)
   6. Surrender (1992)
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Sins
   1. Secret Obsession (1995)
   2. Deadly Rivals (1995)
   3. Haunted Dreams (1995)
   4. Wild Hunger (1995)
   5. Dark Fever (1995)
   6. Angry Desire (1995)
   7. Hot Blood (1996)
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Novels
   Prisoner of the Heart (1972) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Love in a Mist (1972) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Crown Usurped (1972) (as by Sheila Coates)
   Queen's Letter (1973) (as by Sheila Coates)
   Flight of the Swan (1973) (as by Sheila Coates)
   Follow a Stranger (1973)
   Lantern in the Night (1973) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Carnival Coast (1973)
   Falcon on the Hill (1974) (as by Sheila Holland)
   A Family Affair (1974)
   Bells of the City (1975) (as by Sheila Coates)
   Growing Season (1975) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Shadows at Dawn (1975) (as by Sheila Holland)
     aka In The Rebel's Bed
   The Gold of Apollo (1976) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Star-crossed (1976)
   Caring Kind (1976) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Sweet Sanctuary (1976)
   Devil and Miss Hay (1977) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Festival Summer (1977)
   Florentine Spring (1977)
   Kingfisher Morning (1977)
   Hawk in a Blue Sky (1977)
   The Heron Quest (1977)
   Call Back Yesterday (1978)
   Eleanor of Aquitaine (1978) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Master of Comus (1978)
   Desert Barbarian (1978)
   Love's Bright Flame (1978) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Beware of the Stranger (1978)
   Disturbing Stranger (1978)
   Folly by Candlelight (1978) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Autumn Conquest (1978)
   Maiden Castle (1978) (as by Sheila Holland)
   The Long Surrender (1978)
   The Cruel Flame (1978)
   Dancing Hill (1978) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Duel of Desire (1978)
   The Devil's Arms (1978)
   Pagan Encounter (1978)
   Dark Master (1979)
   Forbidden Fire (1979)
   Dark Sweet Wanton (1979) (as by Sheila Lancaster)
   The Silken Trap (1979)
   Sweet Compulsion (1979) (as by Victoria Woolf)
   Temptation (1979) (with Lisa McAllister)
   Twist of Fate (1979)
   Dark Dominion (1979)
   Love is a Frenzy (1979)
   Frustration (1979)
   Fever (1979)
   Sensation (1979)
   The Masque (1979) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Night Music (1980)
   The Notorious Gentleman (1980) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Storm Centre (1980)
   Crescendo (1980)
   A Frozen Fire (1980)
   Savage Surrender (1980)
   The Tilthammer (1980) (as by Sheila Lancaster)
   Obsession (1980)
   Man's World (1980)
   Stranger in the Night (1980)
   Compulsion (1980)
   Miss Charlotte's Fancy (1980) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Seduction (1980)
   Secrets to Keep (1980) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Retribution (1981)
   Abduction (1981)
   Burning Memories (1981) (as by Laura Hardy)
   Illusion (1981)
   Dangerous (1981)
   Playing with Fire (1981) (as by Laura Hardy)
   Heartbreaker (1981)
   Desire (1981)
   The Girl from Nowhere (1981)
   Dream Master (1982) (as by Laura Hardy)
   Midnight Lover (1982)
   Tears and Red Roses (1982) (as by Laura Hardy)
   Mistress of Fortune (1982) (as by Sheila Lancaster)
   A Wild Affair (1982)
   Dark Fantasy (1982) (as by Laura Hardy)
   Betrayal (1983)
   A Violation (1983)
   Haunted (1983)
   Secrets (1983) (as by Sheila Holland)
   The Sex War (1983)
   Darkness of the Heart (1983)
   Infatuation (1984)
   Men Are Dangerous (1984) (as by Laura Hardy)
   A Naked Flame (1984)
   Scandalous (1984)
   Dream Maker (1984) (as by Laura Hardy)
   For Adults Only (1984)
   A Woman of Iron (1985) (as by Sheila Holland)
   Love Games (1985)
   Man Hunt (1985)
   Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1985)
   Sleeping Desire (1985)
   The Bride Said No (1985)
   Explosive Meeting (1985)
   Heat of the Night (1986)
   Love in the Dark (1986)
   Hide and Seek (1987)
   Circle of Fate (1987)
   Kiss of Fire (1987)
   Whirlwind (1987)
   Out of Control (1987)
   Echo of Passion (1987)
   You Can Love a Stranger (1988)
   No More Lonely Nights (1988)
   Desperation (1988)
   Seductive Stranger (1989)
   Runaway Wife (1989)
   Rites of Possession (1990)
   Dark Pursuit (1990)
   Spellbinding (1990)
   Dark Music (1990)
   The Threat of Love (1990)
   Heart on Fire (1991)
   Shotgun Wedding (1991)
   Sleeping Partners (1991)
   Forbidden Fruit (1991)
   Dreaming (1993)
   Fire in the Blood (1993)
   Falling in Love (1993)
   Wounds of Passion (1993)
   Guilty Love (1994)
   Body and Soul (1994)
   Vampire Lover (1994)
   Dying for You (1994)
   In the Still of the Night (1995)
   Walking in Darkness (1996)
   Lovestruck (1997)
   Deep and Silent Waters (1998)
   Hot Surrender (1999)
   Treasons of the Heart (1999)
   Dormant: Shadow of Angels (2000)
   Angel of Death (2000)
   Boardroom to Bedroom (2001)
   A Notorious Rake (2018)
   The Wildest Rake (2019)
   A Scandalous Bride (2020)
   To Kiss An Earl (2021)
   To Love A Dangerous Lord (2023)
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Series contributed to
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