Recommendation for mother-in-law: historical romance

[rhadin]

I highly recommend Shayne Parkinson's quartet of books which begins with Sentence of Marriage, which is a free ebook available at Smashwords (and probably elsewhere; the other 3 books in the quartet are $1.99 each, so it is hard to go wrong). I read them and thought they were some of the best books written in the past few years. (You can read my reviews here and here. FWIW, Shayne is a MR member.)

I couldn't stop reading them and often stayed up until the wee hours. When I was done, I handed my Sony 505 to my wife and told her to try them. History repeated itself -- she couldn't put the books down.

We have recommended these historical novels repeatedly to friends and those who read them have reported them as being 5-star books that they couldn't put down.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by jehane

Colleen McCullough (The Thorn Birds) is a very well known historical, although it's set in Australia so it may not be of interest. I'm also not sure if it's available in ebook form.

Ahh, I forgot about Thorn Birds! I loved that book, and I'm not a romance reader. Great idea!

Originally Posted by rhadin

I highly recommend Shayne Parkinson's quartet of books which begins with Sentence of Marriage, which is a free ebook available at Smashwords (and probably elsewhere; the other 3 books in the quartet are $1.99 each, so it is hard to go wrong).

Thanks, I'll look 'em up!

[lene1949]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I highly recommend Shayne Parkinson's quartet of books which begins with Sentence of Marriage, which is a free ebook available at Smashwords (and probably elsewhere; the other 3 books in the quartet are $1.99 each, so it is hard to go wrong). I read them and thought they were some of the best books written in the past few years. (You can read my reviews here and here. FWIW, Shayne is a MR member.)

I couldn't stop reading them and often stayed up until the wee hours. When I was done, I handed my Sony 505 to my wife and told her to try them. History repeated itself -- she couldn't put the books down.

We have recommended these historical novels repeatedly to friends and those who read them have reported them as being 5-star books that they couldn't put down.

These book would be on the top of my list, if I was looking for something like that... I couldn't put them down either...

[icedtea]

How about the Josephine B Trilogy by Sandra Gulland? Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte, the French Revolution. Reading order:
The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe
The Last Great Dance on Earth

Judith Merkle Riley's Margaret of Ashbury trilogy is a medieval read, and for lack of a better word, 'lighter' than most historical fiction I've read because of the sense of humour.
Reading order: A Vision of Light; In Pursuit of the Green Lion; The Water Devil
I haven't read her stand-alone books yet - she doesn't have a big backlist and she passed away last year.

Linda Holeman's books are set in far off places.
I've only read The Moonlit Cage (Afganistan).

Sort of similar to Diana Gabaldon, Jules Watson's Dalriada trilogy. Scotland, in Roman times with a druid/priestess heroine.
The White Mare
The Dawn Stag
The Boar Stone

Stealing Athena by Karen Essex (haven't read Leonardo's Swans, but it's on my wishlist because I liked this one). Dual time narrative with two women at opposite ends of the Elgin Marbles – one the wife of a diplomat, determined to bring them to England, and the other a philosopher-courtesan during the sculptures' creation.

The Outlander by Gil Adamson - a young widow on the run, with her twin brothers-in-law in hot pursuit, in the Canadian wilderness.

I have no idea about ebook availability, sorry - read all of these in book form.

[DMcCunney]

Another, thinking about it, is M. M Kaye's _The Far Pavillions_. It's a sweeping historical romance set in India under the British Raj.

The protagonist is a British officer in the Guides regiment, who was born in India of British parents, but raised by an Indian woman after his parent's death, and who learned to speak Hindustani before he learned English. (This is a mixed blessing, as when he fails an Indian language test by doing too well, with the graders assuming he used a crib.)

He's a child of two worlds, trying to balance competing loyalties, in a life made more complicated by the love of an Indian princess and an ill-fated British campaign in Afghanistan.

It conveys a healthy sense of and respect for a very foreign culture, along with healthy dollops of adventure, tragedy, and love.

(I believe this is available as a Kindle edition. I'm not sure about other formats.)
______
Dennis

[icedtea]

Oh. I forgot that this series has footnotes. On second thought, it's probably not a good recommendation if the ereader can't navigate through footnotes well or at all.

Originally Posted by icedtea

How about the Josephine B Trilogy by Sandra Gulland? Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte, the French Revolution. Reading order:
The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe
The Last Great Dance on Earth

[Elflaede]

I heartily recommend Elizabeth Chadwick's medieval novels. They're brilliant. Her earlier works have romance as the main focus.

Michelle Moran does some good historicals but they're set in Egypt if that interests you. Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen.

C.W Gortner does great historicals like 'The confessions of Catherine De Medici' but romance isn't a main focus. It does have a love triangle between the King, Catherine De Medici and the King's mistress though.

[jayne80]

If she likes the sweeping historical saga type thing try Sara Donati Into The Wilderness series not sure if the first one is available in ebook but the rest of them are.
Like Diana Gabaldon without the time travel