This Rec League is from Rosemary. Thanks, Rosemary!
I recently began being a docent at an historical Victorian museum. It’s a home restored to it’s period, built in 1871. The other volunteers want to start a book club. I was hoping for some recommendations for American Victorian era romances. I think I may know of three and two of those are Christmas stories. Any ideas? Thanks!
Amanda: The Heiress Gets a Duke isn’t set in America, but the heroine is American and her family runs a successful ironworks business and those operations are pretty central to the plot!
Lara: Could there be an honourable mention for Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the TV series?
Amanda: Sure!
Sarah: I think The Night Circus may qualify?
The Forgotten Room also works.
Claudia: Oh the Felicia Grossman books are all set in the U.S. in the 1870s/1880s.
And also a lot of Beverly Jenkins. As I understand the request, though, the person would be more interested in late Victorian? If we are going to be sticklers, the era spanned 1837 through 1901.
Kiki: Would Joanna Shupe’s Gilded Age books work?
Or is this when we learn that Kiki has no idea when the gilded age was…?
Claudia: No, you are right! 1870s through 1890s/1900.
Tara: If they’re okay with more frontier type and f/f, Jae’s Backwards to Oregon ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is great as is Alaskan Bride by D. Jordan Redhawk. ( A | BN | G | AB )
Which books would you recommend? Tell us below!
I’m kind of curious about the functional definition of “Victorian” in the question because one of the books that came to mind for me is Alyssa Cole’s AN EXTRAORDINARY UNION which is spot-on in terms of time period, but not a romance of manners and sexual mores, etc.
How about The Widow of Rose House – Victorian (from what I remember) and has a creepy/haunted house that she wants to restore. Also a mystery as well as romance.
Would the Sherry Thomas LADY SHERLOCK be considered Romance enough? She has a few in this time frame. There are also Jennifer Ashley’s KAT HOLLOWAY books but both the above focus more on a mystery rather than the romance. Additionally, Mimi Matthews has a few that should fit including THE LOST LETTER. If you consider m/m there is the MAGIC IN MANHATTAN series or K.J. Charles has CHARM OF MAGPIES or LILYWHITE BOYS series. Elizabeth Hoyt has a whole set about the GHOST OF ST. GILES in the MAIDEN LANE series. I also think a few Courtney Milan books would fit here including ONCE UPON A MARQUESS? Sherry Thomas also has the excellent NOT QUITE A HUSBAND that fits. I also think Lisa Kleypas HATHAWAY’S series is more Victorian as well. Some older Judith Ivory including THE PROPOSITION. And for a more adventure type romance I believe that the Zoe Archer BLADES OF THE ROSE series is also VICTORIAN.
Susan Wiggs has a trilogy around the Great Fire in Chicago in 1871, that starts with The Hostage. It’s older, so it might have some cringe-worthy representation, especially of Native Americans.
Check out Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist, about the women artists Louis Comfort Tiffany hired when there was a glassworkers strike before the 1893 Worlds Fair. The historical detail in her books is very well done. Her earlier books fall into the inspirational category, but the later ones much less so and IIRC were never heavy-handed with the religious stuff.
I think this may be a tough one. My mind went instantly to THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE, easily one my to ten books of 2019. And there’s the also already mentioned Joanna Shupe and Deanne Gist, but after that… American historicals seem to all be WWI forward or pre-Civil War and back outside of westerns, which count, but I feel the isn’t what the requestor is aiming for.
The only other books I can think of are Susan Johnson’s Braddock-Black series and even those end up back in Europe.
“The Brightest Star in Paris” (The sequel to “The Widow of Rose House”) also sort of qualifies. Although it takes place mostly in Paris, the male main character is American (the brother of the MMC of Rose House).
Joanna Shupe’s The Four Hundred series (m/f)
Jodi Thomas’ Wife Lottery series (m/f)
Genevieve Turner’s Las Morenas/Love in Old California series (m/f)
The Doctor’s Discretion by EE Ottoman (m/m)
Daughters of a Nation: A Black Suffragette Historical Romance Anthology (m/f) – I think all but one of the stories are Victorian era
Definitely second Alyssa Cole along with Beverly Jenkins. Alyssa Cole also published a novella in an anthology about Black suffragists; her entry is a little late for this request but several of the others in the book are right in the requested zone.
A different approach might be to read something from someone who lived in the period. For instance, one of the later books in the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace, who was born in 1892 and drew heavily on her youth. The series follows three friends from being very young girls to adulthood, and the volumes from the teen years on include romantic storylines. Or, to go a generation earlier, Louisa May Alcott is an interesting read. Several of her books have romantic plot lines as the characters grow up.
At least some of Jo Goldman’s western historical romances are set in the desired time period ~
Marry Me, 1884.
Kissing Comfort,1888.
In Want of a Wife, 1891.
Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight series of mysteries is set in late 19th century New York and has a romance arc over the course of the series. I only read the first one, but readers that I trust consider the series to be historically accurate with an extremely strong sense of place.
Rhys Bowen has the Molly Murphy mystery series which also has a romance arc over the course of the series. The emphasis is on working class and immigrant characters and the social issues of the time.
Finally, if you are more interested in the upper classes and lots of high society drama, Anna Godbersen’s YA Luxe series is definitely set in your time period and sounds like it’s awash in the highest quality soap. As a bonus, the covers feature huge, gorgeous, poofy dresses devouring pretty teen socialites.
Also, if you can stretch your definition of historical to include The Midnight Circus, might I suggest M. K. Hobson’s Veneficas Americana series? It’s really just a couple of fantasy novels and a novella, but the setting is flavored with turn of the century altered history. It was a while ago, but I read and enjoyed both of the novels. If I recall correctly, I was most struck by originality of the central premise and the world building.
Magnolia by Diana Palmer
Atlanta, 1900
Angsty marriage of convenience with an indepedent-minded heroine who secretly designs dresses for the rich ladies of Atlanta
Another book to consider is Time and Again by Jack Finney which has a modern (it was published in 1970) man going back in time to New York City in 1882. It does have a romance element.
@Kareni- I loved Time and Again! I haven’t thought about that book in years. I’ll have to search my shelves for it, because I think I remember that there are photographs from 1900s New York included in the book.
It has a very interesting take on time travel too, having to do with complete immersion in a time so that by living so fully immersed in the past you eventually physically go there. And the romance was lovely too.
@Emily C: you remember correctly that Time and Again has illustrations. I also have had a copy on my shelf for years (decades in my case).
Sara Donati has two novels set in NYC in the early 1880s – The Gilded Hour and Where the Light Enters. Both are linked to her earlier series that was set between 1793 – 1824 (the two main characters are female doctors and their ancestors have leading roles in the earlier series). This is really more historical fiction and could also be considered a family saga, although there are romantic elements throughout both books. There is a murder mystery that stretches through both books. I found that public health history tour and the conflicts between the lady doctors and the infamous Anthony Comstock fascinating.
The author is also a historian and has family members who lived in NYC in the 1880s, so the background info about the city, the immigrant experience and also the experiences of the descendants of the early Dutch and English settlers are all part of this book.
I second the recs for the Widow of Rose House, which also captured the social aspects of the era well.
What about Edith Wharton’s books? I am thinking mostly about the Age of Innocence, but I think a lot of her books are set in NYC in the period after the Civil War and before 1900.
Elizabeth Camden’s all seem to fit this. They’re set in the Gilded age. The same goes for Jen Turano. These are Christian/inspirational, so mileage may vary.
Other than Joanna Shupe, I have no suggestions that really fit. The closest I can come up with is The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly, about half of which takes place in NYC in the 1880s/1890s. It’s a historical saga with romantic elements.
It’s possible that the second and third Gracelin O’Malley trilogy are set in the US – definitely the third one. The first book takes place in Ireland, and it’s not happy at all. But the trilogy does have a happy ending.
The Truitts series (Appetites & Vices and Dalliances & Devotion) by Felicia Grossman – two generations of a Jewish American family in Philadelphia(?)
The Nell Sweeney series by P.B. Ryan – A six-book series of mysteries set in 1870s Boston, with a really strong romance arc throughout
Interestingly, I just realized two of the three have heroes dealing with opiate addiction. Huh.
I feel like “Americana” historical romances might fit this. They were very popular in the 80s and 90s, so I’m not sure how well they hold up, but two authors that come to mind right away are Stef Ann Holm and Pamela Morsi. They were often Westerns, but not always. The focus was more on the small town than the wilderness. Some of Patricia Gaffney’s books like CROOKED HEARTS and ANOTHER EDEN could also fit.
A book that I really loved but is OOP (as far as I can see) is A TOUCH OF CAMELOT by Donna Grove. She’s written different books under a new name, but I’m drawing a blank on what it is and Google is failing me.
I also think American Victorian is still very popular in the inspirational category, but I don’t read it so I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving recs.
I think that the problem finding books that fit within this category might be that technically “Victorian” refers to Great Britain (and, at the time, its empire). So if you’re looking for 19th century romances set in America, you’re better off searching Gilded Age romances, Western romances, Civil War romances, and the specific American period pertaining to your interests as a docent.
Sadly out of print, but “romances set in historical American” that would perfectly fit the bill would be the Sunfire series. Anyone from the Waldenbooks era remember those?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunfire_(series)
@MaryPagones- oh me, me! I loved the Sunfire series, more than Sweet Valley High or the other teen/tween books of the era.
I remember them most by the covers, featuring our heroine and her two “suitors”. Were they all love triangles? I do know I learned for the first time about the Johnstown flood and the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire from Sunfires. Not sure they were entirely accurate depictions of these events, but it introduced me to historical romance at least.
@Emily the covers were super-memorable! I remember them in the “series” YA section, along with Anne of Green Gables and other LMM books! I don’t remember much about them, it’s a pity they haven’t been reissued (even if not 100% accurate, perhaps).
Blue Waltz by Linda Francis Lee is set in Boston in the 1890s. I haven’t reread it in years, but it was a paperback favorite.
I think there’s a trilogy by Maya Rodale which is set in the Gilded Age, but I can’t remember the series title. I think Gilded is part of that title though.
I just went on Google and the series title is the Gilded Age Girls Club.
Does the Widdershins series count?
Breathless is an early Laura Lee Gurhke set in Atlanta and thereabouts from the period. I think she had a couple more as well, and at least one pre-Revolutionary War.
And someone mentioned Jo Goodman upthread. Her Dennehy Sisters books might qualify. They end up in the west, but start in NYC. She mostly writes Western set books now, but her earlier books were more wide-ranging.
A little late here and I love all the books mentioned already so I wanted to recommend something a little different. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It’s non-fiction (which I don’t read often) and truly goes in my top ten favorites. It’s two parallel stories being told. The story of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the story of H.H. Holmes considered the first serial killer.
It was one of those books I couldn’t put down. A perfect Gilded Age story and its true!
Two thumbs up for Miss Scarlet and the Duke. I love that show!
Chiming in late for E.E. Ottoman’s Doctor’s Discretion. (And thirding or fourthing or whatevering Felicia Grossman!)
There’s a paranormal mystery series set in this era by Amanda DeWees that might suit your taste: The Sybil Ingram Victorian mysteries. Book 1 is Nocturne for a Widow. There are hauntings, romance and perilous adventures for Sybil and Roderick to navigate. I found it pretty entertaining.
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