Jefferis first wrote about the letters in a feature for a 1951 Australian radio called Right Well Beloved Lady that was purchased by the BBC.[2][3]
Reviewing the novel, the Bulletin said Jefferis "has woven a rich tapestry of people and events in the Wars of the Roses as a background and has caught the spirit of the times remarkably well... The story is well constructed and there are many scenes to grip the imagination."[4]
Radio version
The novel was adapted in a 1956 radio serial by Jefferis.[5]
Premise of radio serial
"The story is based on the Paston Letters, 14th Century family papers which reveal the everyday life of the ordinary people in England during the Wars of the Roses. The heroine is Margery Paston, high-spirited daughter of wealthy landowner, John Paston. In the days when marriages were arranged by parents with a view to economic gain or security, Margery fell in love with her father's bailiff, Richard Calle. Richard returned her love, but the family were violently opposed and, as might have been expected in that brutal age, Margery suffered violent ill-treatment as a result. The serial traces the course of her fight for the right to love."[6]
