Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · ~1789–1837
Looking for historical fiction in the romance lane set during the Regency / Napoleonic (~1789–1837)? Regency / Napoleonic historical fiction romance books collects historical novels that match both filters—Balls, war, empire, Austen-adjacent and beyond. Love stories grounded in a historical setting HisFic is a free historical fiction discovery app: open a full reading journey with the same era and story-type filters, then add region, themes, or audience. Shelves mix curated historical fiction picks with Open Library titles so even thin combinations still have books to explore.
Curated HisFic picks first, plus Open Library fills for this era + story type.
Jane Austen
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Literary
Tessa Dare
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance
Eloisa James
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance
Annemarie Selinko
In 1794 a Marseille silk merchant’s daughter opens a diary the day her brother is arrested, and the pages follow an engagement to Napoleon Bonaparte, marriage to General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, and his election as Crown Prince of Sweden in 1810, through to her coronation as Queen Desideria in 1829. Annemarie Selinko’s 1951 novel (English 1953) is Regency romance historical fiction of the Napoleonic years as a merchant’s daughter lived them, from the Terror to a Stockholm crown.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Biographical
Charlotte Brontë
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Literary
Rafael Sabatini
In Brittany on the eve of the Revolution, lawyer André-Louis Moreau watches a marquis kill his closest friend, then goes from a Rennes courtroom to a traveling theater—where he plays the clown Scaramouche—and on to a Paris fencing hall as France turns on its nobles. Rafael Sabatini’s 1921 novel is French Revolution historical adventure of disguise, the sword, and a man born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.
Regency / Napoleonic · Early modern · Adventure & epic · Romance
Georgette Heyer
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance
Jane Austen
When Henry Dashwood dies, his widow and daughters are turned out of Norland: Elinor conceals her attachment to Edward Ferrars, while Marianne throws her heart at the dashing John Willoughby—until secret engagements, a broken ankle at Cleveland, and the marriage market of Barton and London test both sisters. Jane Austen’s 1811 novel is Regency historical romance of sense mixed with sensibility, and of two women who will not be saved by feeling alone.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Literary
Julia Quinn
In the 1813 London season, Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, fake a courtship to solve their marriage-market problems—then the performance becomes real. The first Bridgerton novel is Regency historical romance: ballrooms, gossip sheets, and a marriage of convenience that refuses to stay convenient.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance
Baroness Orczy
In 1792, as the Terror’s guillotine claims French aristocrats, a foppish English baronet named Percy Blakeney leads a league that smuggles the condemned out of Paris under the sign of a small red flower. Baroness Orczy’s novel is French Revolution historical adventure: double identity, a Channel chase, and the template for the masked rescuer.
Regency / Napoleonic · Adventure & epic · Romance
Anne Brontë
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.
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Literary
Emily Brontë
Lockwood, new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, takes shelter at Wuthering Heights and hears how the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw loved each other on the Yorkshire moors—until Cathy married Edgar Linton, died in childbirth, and Heathcliff’s revenge closed on the next generation at both houses. Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel is eighteenth-century gothic literary historical fiction of obsessive love, class, and a house that will not let the dead go.
Early modern · Regency / Napoleonic · Literary · Romance
Georgette Heyer
Open Library Staff Picks · Fiction · Romance · Historical Fiction
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Open Library
Judith Ivory
Fiction · Historical Fiction · Romance · Social life and customs
Victorian / Gilded Age · Romance · Open Library
Georgette Heyer
Fiction, Romance, Historical, Regency · Love stories · History · Great Britain, fiction
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Military & war · Open Library
Jean Rhys
stream of consciousness · Creoles · postcolonial literature · race
Victorian / Gilded Age · Romance · Open Library
Teresa Medeiros
Blind · Invalids · Social life and customs · Nurses
Regency / Napoleonic · Victorian / Gilded Age · Romance · Military & war · Open Library
Sarah M. Eden
Fiction, Historical, Romance, Regency · Romance · Historical Fiction · Regency
Regency / Napoleonic · Romance · Open Library
Looking for a broader list? See Regency / Napoleonic historical fiction or romance historical fiction.