The best historical romances for feminist readers

The greatest pleasure of an enemies-to-lovers romance? Witty banter. Which you'll find in droves in Brockway's Victorian-set epistolary romance. A conservative Englishman leaves his estate to 19-year-old suffragette Lillian Bede—not because he admires Lily, but because he’s sure she’ll fail to make the estate profitable in five years.

The letters between Lily and her benefactor’s peripatetic explorer nephew Avery Thorne, the man who will inherit the estate if she falls flat, charmed me as they gradually move from competitive satirical banter to mutual tolerance, and then to something more: friendship, affection—and perhaps even love? 

I first read Cole’s novella in early 2017, when tensions between white women and women of color over planning the Women’s March were all over the news. This book helped me to understand those tensions in a way that nonfiction accounts simply hadn’t.

In early 20th century Harlem, Black whorehouse owner Bertha takes care to teach her employees how government works, so they’ll be ready to cast their ballots when New York finally grants women the vote. The “good” women of the Colored Women’s Voting League aren’t pleased by the wishes of “bad” Bertha and her girls to join their efforts, especially when Bertha calls out the racism of their purported white “allies.” Bertha’s budding romance with undocumented alien Amir, a Bengali Muslim, compellingly reinforces the larger political themes of the book.

After life as an unpaid servant to her clergyman cousin, Annabelle Archer’s ecstatic to win a scholarship to Oxford from the National Society for Women’s Suffrage—even if accepting means participating in the group’s political campaigning. A drive to sway influential gentleman to the cause lands Annabelle and her new suffragist friends at a house party given by the haughty Duke of Montgomery, a man far more interested in winning back the family properties his father lost gambling than in debating married women’s property rights. Until he starts debating with Annabelle…

A familiar story, plot-wise. The joy here comes from Dunmore's lovely writing, deft characterizations, and the palpable tension she creates between two people on opposite sides who fall into desperate, exhilarating, and completely unwanted love.

Sapphic historical romances are few and far between, especially ones as intelligently written and historically grounded as Olivia Waite’s. My favorite moves beyond the typical Regency ballroom setting with its slow-burn romance between two 40-something women. Penelope’s a rural beekeeper, and Agatha a London printer, one whose worrisomely politically radical son might be putting her business in danger.

I admire both the lovely writing and the intelligently grounded historical setting (the story takes place against the backdrop of the Queen Caroline affair and the post-Napoleonic repression of the English press). Above all, I appreciate Waite’s deftly crafted and utterly appealing characters, two unconventional business owners who both enjoy their work almost as much as they do one another.

I could pick any historical romance by Milan and feel happy giving it a spot on this list. Because Milan’s stories are deeply invested in exploring how social strictures and structures function to keep women in their “rightful” (i.e., subordinate) place.

In my favorite, Mark Turner has recently been knighted by Queen Victoria for his philosophical treatise, A Gentleman’s Practical Guide to Chastity, an honor that makes him a rock star to myriad young Englishmen. When a rival offers a reward to anyone who can prove she’s seduced the morally upright Mark, courtesan Jessica Farleigh takes up the challenge.

While Mark’s fans and neighbors find the virgin philosopher and fallen woman an appalling mismatch, Mark does not shy away from his attraction, simultaneously offering a witty yet biting critique of the double standard on male and female sexual behavior.