Queens book series in reading order

by Anne Bishop

by Shannon Hale

Victoria Holt's catalogue runs to 185 books published between 1940 and 1995, covering historical fiction, historical romance and mystery. Daughter of Anna (1940) is the earliest title, and Daughters of England (1995) the latest. The listing gathers several credits under other names, including titles marked as Jean Plaidy. Series include Tudor Saga, Plantagenet Saga, Georgian Saga, Stuart Saga, Norman Trilogy, Queen Victoria and Lucrezia Borgia. Kings, queens, England and France are frequent subjects.

Alison Weir is a British historian and author who writes about English royalty, and about royal women in particular. Weir's first book, Britain's Royal Families (1989), set out a genealogy of the British royal family; biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, Katherine Swynford and Elizabeth of York followed, alongside studies of Henry VIII and his court and of the Princes in the Tower. Weir writes historical fiction as well, including the Six Tudor Queens and Tudor Rose novels. The catalogue holds 59 titles between 1989 and 2026, the most recent being The Boleyn Secret.

Philippa Gregory

46 books• 11 series

Philippa Gregory is an English historical novelist, born in Kenya on 9 January 1954, publishing since 1987. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) won the Romantic Novelists' Association's Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2002 and became two films. AudioFile magazine named Gregory the queen of British historical fiction. The catalogue holds 46 books from Wideacre (1987) to Royal Witch (2026). Series include Plantagenet and Tudor, Order of Darkness, Wideacre, Fairmile, Tradescant and Princess Rules, alongside children's books and non-fiction. Queens, kings and rulers, England and sisters recur in the subjects.

Norah Lofts (27 August 1904 – 10 September 1983), born Norah Ethel Robinson, was a British writer of more than fifty books who also published as Peter Curtis and Juliet Astley. Historical fiction rooted in English history was the Lofts specialty, though the output also covers mysteries, short stories and non-fiction. Lofts wrote novels, the Suffolk Trilogy among them, that trace particular houses and their occupants across generations. The catalogue holds 62 titles, from I Met a Gypsy (1935) to The Story of Maude Reed, dated 2024, and one 1940 entry carries the Peter Curtis byline. Series listed are House, Sir Godfrey Tallboys and Gad's Hall.

Karen Harper wrote historical fiction, romantic suspense and Amish-set novels. The catalogue holds 72 books, from Island Ecstasy (1982) to The Queen's Secret (2020), taking in The Last Boleyn (1983) and The First Princess of Wales (1984). The Elizabeth I Mysteries, the South Shores books, the Amish Home Valley and Maplecreek trilogies, and the Morgan Sisters series written as Caryn Cameron organise much of it.

Antonia Fraser

40 books• 3 series

Antonia Fraser, born Antonia Pakenham on 27 August 1932, is a British writer of history, biography, novels and detective fiction. Fraser is the widow of Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel laureate in literature, and was known as Lady Antonia Pinter until his death in 2008. The catalogue runs to 40 books between 1954 and 2023, setting biographies and histories such as Mary Queen of Scots (1969), Cromwell (1973) and The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England (1975) beside the Jemima Shore detective novels. Subjects record kings and rulers, queens, England and women detectives.

Jennifer Ashley, whose full name is Jennifer Ashley Gardner, sold a first novel in 2002 and made a second sale to Berkley with a series of historical mysteries. The catalogue counts 157 books from Perils of the Heart (2002) to Murder on the Rhône (2026). Series include Shifters Unbound, Captain Lacey Mysteries, Highland Pleasures, Kat Holloway Mysteries, Stormwalker, Riding Hard, Leonidas the Gladiator Mystery, Nvengaria and the McLaughlin Brothers. Subjects span paranormal romance, shapeshifting, historical romance and historical fiction. Ashley holds a master's degree in English literature and placed a first short story in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine.

Barbara Cartland

702 books• 3 series

Barbara Cartland, born Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland on 9 July 1901 and died on 21 May 2000, was an English romance novelist and socialite. This directory catalogues 702 titles under Cartland's name, from His Hour (1910) through to A Heart in the Highlands (2024), with the 1980s the heaviest decade. The Eternal Collection, the Pink Collection and the Camfield Novels Of Love group the bulk of that output. Cartland wrote contemporary as well as historical romance, the historical novels set mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and ranks fifth among the most translated authors worldwide.

Michelle Moran is an American novelist of historical fiction. Egypt supplies the first three books, Nefertiti (2007), The Heretic Queen (2008) and Cleopatra's Daughter (2009), and later titles take in Madame Tussaud (2011), The Second Empress (2012), Rebel Queen (2015), Mata Hari's Last Dance (2016) and Maria (2024). Nine books are catalogued to 2024, with queens, kings and rulers, Egypt, India and the First World War among the recorded subjects.

Sarah J. Maas, born March 5, 1986, is an American fantasy author known for three series: Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Crescent City. The catalogue holds 45 books dated 2012 to 2027, starting in 2012 with The Assassin and the Pirate Lord and Throne of Glass, then Crown of Midnight in 2013. A Court of Splintered Harmony (2026) is the newest release, and A Court of Forgotten Melody is scheduled for 2027. Subjects across the books include fairies, assassins, magic, courts and courtiers, and romance. By 2024 Maas had sold more than 75 million copies, with translations in 40 languages.

Mercedes Lackey

230 books• 52 series

Valdemar, a country in the world of Velgarth, is the setting for many of Mercedes Lackey's interlinked fantasy novels and trilogies. Lackey, an American writer born on June 24, 1950, brings human and non-human protagonists from many cultures together in the Valdemar books. A second Lackey setting resembles Earth but hides populations of elves, mages, vampires and other mythical beings. Bedlam's Bard follows a young man who works magic through music, SERRAted Edge features elves who race cars, and the Diana Tregarde thrillers star a Wiccan fighting evil. Arrows of the Queen (1987), Arrow's Flight (1987) and Arrow's Fall (1988) are among the listed titles, and Elemental Masters and Five Hundred Kingdoms are further series.

Sarah Beth Durst

34 books• 5 series

Sarah Beth Durst, born May 23, 1974, is an American fantasy author writing for adult, young adult and middle grade readers. The catalogue lists 36 books, starting with Into the Wild (2007) and Out of the Wild (2008), with The Faraway Inn (2026) the newest and The Imagitorium due in 2027. Series include Queens of Renthia and Spellshop. The Queen of Blood (2016) received a 2017 Alex Award from the American Library Association. The Spellshop (2024) and The Enchanted Greenhouse (2025) both reached the New York Times Bestseller List. Magic, dragons, fairy tales, quests and polar bears are among the recorded subjects.

Chris Colfer

20 books• 6 series

The Land of Stories is Chris Colfer's main series, with fairy tales, twins and the characters of literature among its subject tags. The Wishing Spell (2012) and Struck by Lightning (2012) are the earliest of 20 catalogued titles, which reach Roswell Johnson Saves the Galaxy! (2025). A Tale of Magic, the Land of Stories picture books and the graphic novels extend the work. Magic, fairies, secrets and books and reading recur.

Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 to March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who also produced historical and contemporary fiction, and used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston as well. Norton was the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master, and the first inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. The catalogue carries 209 books from The Prince Commands (1934) onward. Witch World, Solar Queen, Time Traders, Beast Master and Forerunner are series.

Anne Bishop writes dark fantasy. The Black Jewels series begins with Daughter of the Blood (1998) and runs on witches and the imagined realm of Terreille; The Others and the World of the Others turn to shapeshifters, werewolves and vampires. Ephemera, Tir Alainn and An Isle of Wyrd fill out 32 catalogued titles, with Storms of Fate scheduled for 2027. Books run 430 pages at the median.

Mark Lawrence, born in 1966, is an American-British novelist and the author of The Broken Empire trilogy. Emperor of Thorns won the David Gemmell Award for Fantasy for best novel in 2014, and The Liar's Key took the same prize in 2016. Lawrence runs the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. The catalogue lists 38 works, from During the Dance (2004) and Prince of Thorns (2011) to The Bookshop Book (2026). Other series include Red Queen's War, Book of the Ancestor, Book of the Ice, Impossible Times and the Library Trilogy.

Paul Doherty writes historical mysteries set largely in England, with 127 books catalogued from The Death of a King (1985) to The Meadows of Murder (2026). Recurring detectives include Hugh Corbett, Brother Athelstan, Kathryn Swinbrooke and Amerotke. Other series cover the Canterbury Tales Mysteries, Ancient Rome, Egyptian Mysteries, Nicholas Segalla, Mathilde of Westminster, Margaret Beaufort and Vlad Drakulya. Satan in St Mary's (1986) and Spy in Chancery (1988) are among the early titles.

Shannon Hale

62 books• 11 series

Shannon Hale, born Shannon Bryner on January 26, 1974, is an American author mainly of young adult fantasy. Princess Academy (2005) earned a Newbery Honor, and The Goose Girl (2003) opens the catalogue. Austenland (2007), the first novel for adults, became a film in 2013. Hale graduated from the University of Utah and the University of Montana, and has co-written with husband Dean Hale. The catalogue lists 63 titles through The Princess in Black and the Trick-or-Treating Trouble (2026), across series including Princess In Black, Books of Bayern, Real Friends and Kitty-Corn.

Sarah Ferguson

65 books• 7 series

Sarah Ferguson, formerly Duchess of York, is a British author and television personality with 65 books catalogued between 1989 and 2023. The Budgie the Little Helicopter picture books opened the run in 1989 and lead a children's list that also holds Little Red, Genie Gems, Puddle Boots and the Helping Hand stories. Ferguson has written history as well, Victoria and Albert: A Family Life at Osborne House (1991) and Travels with Queen Victoria (1995), along with books on weight loss and exercise and the Buccleuch Family novels, the latest of them A Most Intriguing Lady (2023).

Lucy Worsley is an English historian who writes about British royal history, palaces and domestic life. Twenty books are catalogued from 1998 to 2026, beginning with guides to Hardwick Old Hall (1998), Bolsover Castle (2001) and Hampton Court Palace (2005), then Cavalier (2007), Courtiers (2010) on the Georgian court at Kensington Palace, If Walls Could Talk (2011) and A Very British Murder (2013). Kings, queens, biography and social history run through the subjects, with children's titles among them, and Queens and Kings (2026) is the newest. Worsley was joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces from 2003 to 2024, presents history series for BBC Television and Channel 5, and was born in 1973.

Tracy Borman is an English historian who writes royal history alongside historical fiction. Elizabeth's Women (2009), a group portrait of the women around Elizabeth I, is her best known book, and Thomas Cromwell (2014), The Private Lives of the Tudors (2016) and Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him (2018) follow. The Frances Gorges trilogy, opening with The King's Witch (2018), is her fiction. Borman became Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln in July 2022, and her catalogue runs to 16 titles, reaching The House of Boleyn (2026).

Who HQ is the credit on 429 children's nonfiction biographies in the catalogue, published from 2002 to 2026. The run opens with Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart? and Who Was Ben Franklin? (all 2002) and reaches Who Is Vera Wang (2026). Subjects include biography, history and juvenile nonfiction for readers aged 8 to 12. Other names credited on some of the books include Megan Stine (7), John Hinderliter (7) and Nico Medina (4).

Christian Jacq

37 books• 7 series

Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist, born in 1947, and ancient Egypt is the subject of the fiction. A five-book sequence on the pharaoh Ramses is the best known work, joined by the Stone of Light, the Mysteries of Osiris, the Judge of Egypt, the Queen of Freedom and the Vengeance of the Gods. The catalogue holds 37 titles from Magic and Mystery in Ancient Egypt (1983) to The Beloved of Isis (2011), non-fiction on hieroglyphics and a Mozart series among them.

Erika Johansen writes young adult fantasy. Five books are catalogued between 2014 and 2023. The Queen of the Tearling (2014), The Invasion of the Tearling (2015), The Fate of the Tearling (2016) and Beneath the Keep (2021) make up the Tearling sequence, and The Kingdom of Sweets (2023) stands alone. Queens, princesses, magic, inheritance and succession, and imaginary wars run through the subjects. No new Johansen title has appeared since 2023.