The Duke and I

Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford, has never made a fool of himself over a woman until he meets Lady Yasmin Régnier—too French, too gossipy, and entirely ineligible—and still finds himself proposing. Eloisa James’s Would-Be Wallflowers novel is steamy Regency historical romance: enemies-to-lovers, a scandalous love affair, and a happily-ever-after.

When diplomat Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy is posted to South America, he parks his high-handed daughter Sophy on her aunt in Berkeley Square, where cousin Charles is engaged to a grim bluestocking, Cecelia is in love with a useless poet, and the younger Ombersleys are starved of fun. Georgette Heyer’s 1816 novel is Regency historical romance: a managing heroine, a furious hero, and the London season rearranged at pistol-point and on horseback.

When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley takes Netherfield, Mrs. Bennet is determined to marry off a daughter—but it is the proud Mr. Darcy, and Elizabeth Bennet’s first impression of him, that turns a Hertfordshire season into the most famous courtship in English fiction. Jane Austen’s 1813 novel is Regency historical romance of manners, money, and a woman who will not marry without respect.

In the autumn of 1827, gentleman farmer Gilbert Markham watches a woman calling herself Helen Graham take ruined Wildfell Hall with her small son, shut the door on the neighborhood, and paint for a living. Anne Brontë’s 1848 novel is Regency romance historical fiction of the diary she finally lets him read—a marriage to Arthur Huntingdon she has fled, and a woman the law of the 1820s still counts as her husband’s property.

The Duke of Ashbury comes home from war needing an heir, not a wife he has to look at in the light—until seamstress Emma Gladstone arrives in his library wearing a wedding gown and he decides on the spot that she will do. Tessa Dare’s Girl Meets Duke opener is steamy Regency historical romance: a marriage of convenience, unlimited teasing, and a happily-ever-after.

Orphaned Jane Eyre survives Gateshead and Lowood, then takes a governess post at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with the brooding Edward Rochester—and discovers the secret locked on the third floor that makes their wedding impossible. Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel is Regency gothic historical romance: a woman who will not be owned, and the most famous governess courtship in English fiction.