Winsor's inspiration for the book came from her first husband, who had written his undergraduate thesis on Charles II, completed while he was serving in the army.

After she persuades him, Carlton reluctantly takes her to London, but tells Amber he will not marry her and she will come to regret her choice.

He leaves Amber a significant amount of money and tells her if she is clever she can legitimize herself and her child by marrying well.

Left alone, Amber is befriended by a woman named Sally Goodman and passes herself off as a rich country heiress.

Though she is not a great actress, Amber uses her beauty to earn larger parts, hoping to attract the attention of a man who can afford to keep her as his mistress.

She catches the eye of Captain Rex Morgan, the paramour of fellow actress Beck Marshall, and succeeds in persuading him to pay to keep her.

Morgan falls in love with Amber and offers to marry her, but she resists, wanting a wealthier husband.

Amber eventually attracts the attention of the King and sleeps with him twice before his mistress, Barbara Palmer, intervenes.

Amber finds a suitable husband for Jemima and is left extremely wealthy after Samuel dies.

They both survive but Bruce abandons her again, and Amber decides to marry for a third time, to the avaricious but influential Earl of Radclyffe.

Now a countess, Amber intends to go to court and become the King's favored mistress, replacing Barbara Palmer.

Bruce reveals that he is married and intends to make their son his lawful heir, to which Amber reluctantly consents, knowing it will secure his future.

While many reviewers "praised the story for its relevance, comparing Amber's fortitude during the plague and fire to that of the women who held hearth and home together through the blitzes of World War II", others condemned it for its blatant sexual references.

The first was Massachusetts, whose attorney general cited 70 references to sexual intercourse, 39 illegitimate pregnancies, 7 abortions, and "10 descriptions of women undressing in front of men" as reasons for banning the novel.

[citation needed] The novel was quite popular with the personnel of the USS Astoria in the Second World War, with a copy circulating through the crew.

A film adaptation by 20th Century Fox was finally completed after substantial changes to the script were made, toning down some of the book's most objectionable passages in order to appease Catholic media critics.

[6] The Minister for Customs, Senator Richard Keane, said "The Almighty did not give people eyes to read that rubbish."