15 best historical romance novels

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

There is more sensuality here than actual reliability. And justified: after all, meticulousness is the enemy of passion.

In these books, real famous people come to life to love and suffer like ordinary people. Adjusted for the fact that the stories unfold against the backdrop of dramatic events - war, revolution, radical reforms or a palace coup.

If, after reading, you want to get to the bottom of whether it really was so, then the author has achieved his goal. You fell in love with the era! So much so that they are ready to waste time on boring scientific works and dry primary sources.

Historical romance novels with heroes of the Ancient World

1. "Nefertiti", Michelle Moran

Her half-sister, Mutnodjmet, tells about the fate of the legendary Queen of Egypt. Unlike Nefertiti, she does not seek fame and power. The girl watches the ascent of the legendary relative to the throne and is sometimes forced to participate in intrigues.

Much attention is paid to the relationship of Nefertiti with her husband, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten). The founder of the first monotheistic religion in the history of mankind behaves like a spoiled and stubborn child. According to the American Michelle Moran, Nefertiti still managed to tame her hysterical husband.

2. "Antony and Cleopatra" by Colin McCullough

Australian writer Colin McCullough is best known for her best-selling book The Thorn Birds. Although after him she managed to publish a couple of dozen books. Antony and Cleopatra is the seventh and final novel in the monumental cycle The Lords of Rome.

In McCullough, the love story of the last Egyptian queen and the ancient Roman commander Mark Antony is supplemented with explanations, dates and details. Which certainly adds weight and believability to the overused plot. After reading, there is a great risk that you will want to master the entire cycle, starting with the first book.

3. "Selena, daughter of Cleopatra", Françoise Chandernagor

This is the first novel of the Forgotten Queen trilogy about the fate of the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, who was married to the king of Mauritania.

For the biography of Selena, the eminent French novelist Françoise Chandernagor found an unexpected move. The story is told on behalf of our contemporary-medium. In a dream, she transforms into the last representative of the Ptolemaic family and looks at the world through her eyes. And when he wakes up, he supplements his visions with historical details.

Historical romance novels with heroes of the 11th-12th centuries

1. "Crown for Milady", Patricia Bracewell

And again, the life and passions of one woman did not fit into the framework of the whole novel. The Crown for Milady is only the first book of the Emma of Normandy trilogy.

For political reasons, Richard I, Count of Normandy, gives his 15-year-old daughter in marriage to the despotic king of England, Ethelred II the Unreasonable. The girl is surrounded by rivals and ill-wishers. But the light in the window is love - for the grown-up son of her own husband. It is clear that the forbidden romance could not proceed easily and carelessly.

In the future, Emma will become an influential political figure of the 11th century and the only woman who managed to sit on the British throne twice. But more about that in the following books.

2. The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick

Alienore of Aquitaine was only 13 years old when she married Louis VII, King of France. Her marriage was bleak until the monarch took the young wife on the Crusade. And there the girl quickly fell in love with another.

Elizabeth Chadwick is an acclaimed researcher and reenactor of the English Middle Ages. Based on her works, the film "The First Knight" was made with Sean Connery and Richard Gere in the lead roles. Therefore, even the picky reader will probably want to know the continuation of Alienora's story from the next two books - "Winter Crown" and "Autumn Throne".

Historical romance novels with heroes of the 15th-16th centuries

1. "Secret Marriage" by Gene Plaidy

The novel gives a detailed answer to the question of how the royal Tudor dynasty appeared. The story of the family begins with the forbidden love of the Dowager Queen Catherine of Valois for the simple squire Owen Tudor.

The author's real name is Eleanor Alice Hibbert. This English writer is known for her phenomenal work capacity. Every year from under her pen several books in different genres were published under separate pseudonyms. She was Victoria Holt for Gothic novels, Philippe Carr for the family sagas, and Jean Plaidy for monarch love stories.

2. “Another Boleyn Girl” by Philip Gregory

Philip Gregory is called the queen of the British historical novel. Her most famous work, Another Boleyn, opens the Tudors and Plantagenets series, which includes 15 books.

Two sisters - Mary and Anne Boleyn - vie for the heart of King Henry VIII. In this fight, the more assertive and unprincipled Anna predictably wins. And now the monarch, already obsessed with passion, is ready to divorce his wife, which threatens to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

3. "Bring in the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, also could not ignore the plot with Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII. And rightly so. Bringing Bodies has earned her several prestigious literary awards, including the Booker Prize.

The author is not sprayed on the history of the relationship from start to finish. Her attention is focused on the last two years of Anna's life. For the sake of marrying a favorite, the king broke with Rome, but she never gave him an heir. Henry VIII's disappointment is skillfully fueled by his first advisor, Thomas Cromwell. The insidious politician intends to get rid of Anna by any means.

Despite some dryness of presentation, the book delays and plunges headlong into the Tudor era. It is also worth reading Mantel's first book about Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall, for which she also received a Booker.

4. The Marriage Game by Alison Weir

English writer Alison Weir has studied the private life of British monarchs for decades. Her fifth fiction book is dedicated to one of the most scandalous novels in the history of the English court - between the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I and Lord Robert Dudley.

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn ruled England alone for nearly 45 years. She did not marry and left no heirs, ending the Tudor dynasty. Weir portrays Elizabeth as a selfish and unbalanced person. She deftly avoids marriage bonds, fools the bridegrooms' heads and tortures poor Robert.

The portrait of the heroine contrasts with the canonical image of Elizabeth I, whom the British extol for wisdom and sacrifice. Unsurprisingly, the book angered many Britons. Readers outside of England, on the other hand, praise the novel for its psychological depth and fresh perspective.

5. "Queen Margot", Alexandre Dumas

The voluminous novel by one of the most widely read French authors covers only two years from the life of Marguerite de Valois. But the events in it would be enough for several lives.

The book begins with the marriage of the Catholic Margot to the Huguenot Henry of Bourbon, King of Navarre. The union, which was supposed to reconcile the two warring religions, turned into a mass murder of Protestants on St. Bartholomew's Night. One of the persecuted Huguenots, Comte de La Mol, asks Margot for protection and falls in love with her.

There are few invented characters in the novel. Even de La Mole existed in reality, and he is indeed credited with having an affair with the queen. True, he was not a Huguenot, but a fanatical Catholic and, moreover, a famous adventurer.

6. "Roksolana", Pavlo Zagrebelny

The novel by Pavel Zagrebelny slowly tells how a simple concubine achieves the position of the only wife of the powerful Sultan of the Ottoman Empire - Suleiman the Magnificent.

Do not try to find analogies in the classics with the popular TV series The Magnificent Century. There is no strawberry in the book, but there are many philosophical digressions.

Historical romance novels with heroes of the 18th – 19th centuries

1. "Consuelo", Georges Sand

The prototype of the main character - the gypsy Consuelo - was the famous opera singer Pauline Viardot. George Sand had a long friendship with Polina. It was the writer who introduced the dark-skinned woman to her future husband, theater director Paul Viardot. He was 21 years older than the fatal beauty and played a key role in her career.

Georges Sand takes the action of his most famous novel to 18th century Italy. Young Consuelo experiences the betrayal of her lover, breaks the generally accepted patterns, painfully chooses between art and feelings. But most importantly, it serves as a real consolation for neighbors. After all, her name is translated from Spanish - “consolation”.

A more mature stage in Consuelo's life can be found in the next novel, The Countess of Rudolstadt.

2. The Passion and Sorrow of Josephine Beauharnais, Sandra Galland

Most people know that Josephine de Beauharnais was the Empress of France and the wife of Napoleon. But few people know how many trials she had to endure.

Canadian author Sandra Galland wrote the novel in the form of Josephine's own diaries. The reader, as if in the first person, learns about the vicissitudes of her fate, her relationship with Napoleon and the environment of the legendary couple. “You will be shocked at how much you didn’t know about Bonaparte and the French Revolution,” the book's reviewers say.

3. "Victoria and Albert", Evelyn Anthony

The novel by the British writer about the marriage of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert was published back in 1958. Since then, no one has been able to tell this story better than Evelyn Anthony.

The book is based on Victoria's own correspondence and diaries. She ascended the throne at 18 and ruled Britain for almost 64 years. According to the author, the only weakness of this strong-willed woman was her cousin and husband, Saxon Prince Albert. Victoria fell in love with him at first sight. The young man had no choice but to marry.

The novel shows how the relationship between the spouses developed over the course of 20 years - until the death of Albert at the age of 42. An interesting detail: although Victoria gave birth to nine children, her maternal instinct did not turn on.

4. “Prince. Notes of an informer ", Edward Radzinsky

Two storytellers coexist in the book. One - Emperor Alexander II - tells in detail in his diary about the passion for Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova and about the attempts made on him. The second - a double agent Prince V-kiy - initiates the reader into conspiracies around the king.

The novel is replete with historical characters, including the Tsar's favorites, the Narodnaya Volya terrorists, and even Karl Marx and Fyodor Dostoevsky. A weighty volume is read excitedly - this is admitted even by those who disagree with the vision of Edward Radzinsky.