Lost in the realms of the palace curtains, they are usually depicted as props adorning the palace windows or appearing in ballrooms resplendent in their royal robes.

But not any more. For taking up cudgels against writers of this ``biased'' history is Judith Merkle Riley, American author of nearly half a dozen historical novels, who has rewritten history to depict women as they really were in the past.

``I realised that women had been completely blanked out of history, my endeavour, therefore, was to find real women in history, give them real lives, delve into their consciousness, the wonderful friendships they shared, the power they wielded ...To prove that history was not made merely by men,'' says Riley, adding that the dynamics of all her novels flow from the consciousness of women.

Drawing inspiration from SirWalter Scott, the father of the modern historical novel and the unforgettable Sir Geoffrey Chaucer, especially his Wife Of Bath in the Canterbury Tales, Riley started writing fiction in the late 1980's.

The rightness of society in the 14th century England made a woman's personality invisible, says Riley, with the result that the definition of what is right was well known and all pervasive.

Interestingly, even the first book on women called The Book Of Manners For Education Of Women was written by a man with no women in it, she says.

The reign of Louis XIV, says Riley, was dominated by women who were mistresses, the power of blackmail was expounded by witches who were all powerful, a fact proven and established by the records of that time.

Witches had a very organised underground network geared to tackle any eventuality in the lives of women.

They were the modern businesswomen who had a solution for everything -- they performed abortions, sold potions and aphrodisiacs to theking's wives and mistresses, extending their power even to the palace.

Her first novel called The Vision Of Light written in 1989, therefore, delved into the adventures of the most powerful ``underground'' woman in 14th century England, the midwife.

The next novel In Pursuit Of The Green Lion (1990) was a sequel derived from medieval pilgrimage documents.

Riley's next novel written in 1994, The Oracle Glass is an engrossing work which takes the reader to 17th century Paris, to the decadent court of the Sun King, where a secret society of fortune tellers, witches, magicians and poisoners play havoc with the lives of ambitious courtiers.

It is an outstanding historical novel permeated by a feminist consciousness and is based on a real-life scandal of 17th century France, known as the `affaire des poisons'.

The heroine of the novel, Genevieve, is a skinny, precocious girl with a mind full of philosophy and the remarkable power to read the swirling waters of an oracleglass.

Left for dead by her family, she is taken in by the ingenious occultist La Voisin who rules a secret society of witches that manipulates the rich and scandalous all the way up to the throne.

Tutored by La Voisin, Genevieve creates a new identity for herself as the mysterious Madame De Morville and is even consulted by the reigning mistress of the Sun King himself on what the future holds for her. And as Madame Morville, Genevieve can revel in what women were usually denied -- power, an independent income and the opportunity to speak her mind.

``In Genevieve, therefore, we have a woman who not only belongs to the era of Louis XIV, but also expresses sentiments that echo the independent woman of today," says Riley.

Riley's recent work entitled The Serpent Garden is a novel about an English woman portrait painter at the French court in the early 16th century.

"I took up the idea to project a portrait painter as my heroine because women artists were underplayed in histories of the time, aportrait artist was always taken for granted to be a man, never a woman," says Riley.