Victoria Holt's heroines left the decorous drawing rooms of Victorian England to find adventure in far more exotic locations: inside an Egyptian pyramid ("The Curse of the Kings", 1973); among Chinese antiques in Hong Kong ("The House of a Thousand Lanterns", 1974); down the opal mines of Australia ("The Pride of the Peacock", 1976); on a tea plantation in Ceylon ("The Spring of the Tiger", 1979); among lush, tropical islands off the coast of Australia ("The Road to Paradise Island", 1985); in Crimea with Florence Nightingale ("Secret for a Nightingale", 1986); in mutiny-filled British India ("The India Fan", 1988); in a Turkish nobleman's harem in Constantinople ("The Captive", 1989); in the British colonies of South Africa ("Snare of Serpents", 1990); and on a shipwreck in the South Sea Islands ("The Black Opal", 1993).