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Summary

Lushly descriptive novels set in England with complex character relationships, rich historical detail, and evocative atmosphere. Some books also contain a mystery or suspense subplot. ​

Stats

​Genre: Adult historical romance (regency England, primarily)

Series length: All standalone novels

Violence: Light to Moderate, depending on the novel

Magic/Supernatural: Generally none

Romance/Sex: Strong, usually clean, though there a few books that contain books that reference sex (including outside of wedlock), though handled with care and discretion. 

Christian/spiritual element: Overt Christian content

Recommendation: Readers who like vividly described historical novels

You might like these novels if you like...
​Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters

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Opening Lines:

Benjamin Brooker sat in the Old Bailey, pulse pounding. His most important case to date had finally been called to trial--his chance to prove himself to the firm's partners.

The courtroom was the usual raucous scene: noisy spectators and newsmen in the gallery, milling witnesses awaiting their turn, and wigged barristers goading one another like boxers in the ring.

The Bridge to Belle Island
by Julie Klassen

​After a humiliating mistake, lawyer Benjamin Booker resolves to never again trust a beautiful woman. When an old friend is killed, the senior partner isn't satisfied with Bow Street's efforts and asks Benjamin to investigate. Eager to leave London for a while, Benjamin agrees. Evidence takes him to a remote island on the Thames, a world unto itself, shrouded in mist and mystery. Soon he finds himself falling for the main suspect—a woman who claims not to have left the island in ten years. But should he trust her?

On Belle Island, Isabelle feels safe and leads a productive life, but fear keeps her trapped there. When Mr. Booker arrives with news of her trustee's murder in London, Isabelle is stunned. She has not left the island, yet she has a recurring dream about the man's death. Or is it a memory? She had been furious with him, but she never intended...this.

When a second person dies, and evidence shockingly points to her, Isabelle doesn't know who to trust: the attractive lawyer or the admirer and friends who assemble on the island, each with grudges against the victim. Can she even trust her own mind? While they search for the truth, secrets come to light and danger comes calling.

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Opening Lines:

Flotsam or jetsam? 

According to the heavy old volume of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary in my uncle's study, flotsam is any goods floating on the sea where a ship has sunk or been cast away, while jetsam is anything purposely cast out of a ship when in danger, in hopes of saving it, or at least lightening the load. 

Almost daily I walk along the shore, eyes keen for either one. 

A Castaway in Cornwall
by Julie Klassen

Laura Callaway daily walks the windswept Cornwall coast, known for many shipwrecks but few survivors. She feels like a castaway, set adrift on the tides of fate by the deaths of her parents and left wanting answers. Now living with her parson uncle and his parsimonious wife in North Cornwall, Laura is viewed as an outsider even as she yearns to belong somewhere again.

When ships sink, wreckers scour the shore for valuables, while Laura searches for clues to the lives lost. She has written letters to loved ones and returned keepsakes to rightful owners. She collects seashells and mementos, and when a man is washed ashore, she collects him too.

As Laura and a neighbor care for the castaway, the mystery surrounding him grows. He has abrasions and a deep cut that looks suspiciously like a knife wound, and he speaks in careful, educated English, yet his accent seems odd. Other clues wash ashore, and Laura soon realizes he is not who he seems to be. Their attraction grows, and while she longs to return the man to his rightful home, evidence against him mounts. With danger pursuing them from every side, will Laura ever find the answers and love she seeks?

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Opening Lines:

Miss Rebecca Lane quaked at the thought of returning to Swanford after more than a year's absence, even though her heart had never really left. 

Inside the jostling post chaise, she prayed, Please don't let him do anything foolish before I get there.

Shadows of Swanford Abbey
by Julie Klassen

When Miss Rebecca Lane returns to her home village after a few years away, her brother begs for a favor: go to nearby Swanford Abbey and deliver his manuscript to an author staying there who could help him get published. Feeling responsible for her brother's desperate state, she reluctantly agrees.

The medieval monastery turned grand hotel is rumored to be haunted. Once there, Rebecca begins noticing strange things, including a figure in a hooded black gown gliding silently through the abbey's cloisters. For all its renovations and veneer of luxury, the ancient foundations seem to echo with whispers of the past--including her own. For there she encounters Sir Frederick--magistrate, widower, and former neighbor--who long ago broke her heart.

When the famous author is found murdered in the abbey, Sir Frederick begins questioning staff and guests and quickly discovers that several people held grudges against the man, including Miss Lane and her brother. Haunted by a painful betrayal in his past, Sir Frederick searches for answers but is torn between his growing feelings for Rebecca and his pursuit of the truth. For Miss Lane is clearly hiding something. . . .

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​For more standalone novels by Julie Klassen, click here.