Some of my favorite authors specialize in this kind of book, so I'm going to focus on them.
Kate Morton - Kate Morton is one of my most favorite authors, period - regardless of genre. Her books tend to have a gothic feel to them, as they're often set at least in part in a crumbling mansion, usually in England, and generally the story line in the present revolves in part around solving a mystery in the past. She's written 5 books, and 3 of them have made my yearly 10 favorites list - "The House at Riverton," "The Forgotten Garden," and "The Lake House," and I loved her other two books too, just not quite as much. I love her books so much, I don't even know if I can pick a favorite! If you forced me to choose just one I guess I would say her most recent one, "The Lake House," but I seriously recommend them all. She has a 6th book scheduled for publication in September, which I'm very excited for.
Lucinda Riley - Lucinda Riley also writes books with terrific past/present stories. I've read 5 of her 11 books so far and really enjoyed them all, with my favorite definitely being "The Midnight Rose," which made my 2015 10 favorites list. Bonus to her stories is while some of them do indeed involve my beloved crumbling English manor houses, they also have all sorts of other exotic settings including, in the ones I've read, India, Thailand, Brazil, Geneva, Paris, and Norway. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you've heard a bit about Lucinda Riley in my first GCBC post, as Sarah and I are both big fans of her writing and have read 4 of her books for our book club and are working our way through the others, both those already published and her as yet unfinished Seven Sisters series.
Michelle Gable - Michelle Gable has written 3 terrific historical fiction novels which go back and forth in time, and all of them manage to make both the past and present day stories equally compelling. I would recommend them all, but I think my favorite is her second book, "I'll See You in Paris." Her 4th book, "The Summer I Met Jack," comes out on May 29th but I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of it so I have already read it, and I really loved that one too, but it only barely falls into the category of back and forth historical fiction as it is probably 90% set in the past with only a very minor present day story.
Beatriz Williams - Beatriz Williams has written 8 books, with a ninth one coming out this summer, I've read 6 of them so far. They are a bit on the light and soapy side, but lots of fun to read. They generally have story lines taking place in two time periods; sometimes it's the past and the present, while other times it is two different time periods in the past, anything from many decades apart to just a few years apart. Other than the 3 "Schuyler sisters" books (no relation to Hamilton!), they are not all part of a series, but characters from her books tend to reappear in other books, though not in a way which would prevent you from reading them as standalone books. My favorite of hers is "The Secret Life of Violet Grant," which made my 2017 ten favorites list. I did not like her most recent book, "Cocoa Beach," which you may have read in my first GCBC post, but have enjoyed all the rest of her books, and will definitely keep reading whatever she writes.
Sarah Jio - Sarah Jio's books are also a little on the lighter side, and sometimes a bit predictable, but generally very enjoyable to read. I've read 6 out of 8 of her books; of those, 5 had one historical story and one present day story, while one had the two story-lines just 10 years apart and with the same POV character in both. My favorite of hers is definitely "The Last Camellia," which made my 2015 10 favorites list. As is also the case with Beatriz Williams, I first discovered her through my regular book club and have gone to read others with Sarah for GCBC.
Eve Chase - Eve Chase has only written two books, but I loved them both. If you are already a fan of Kate Morton, definitely check her out as she has very much a similar vibe - historical novels with past/present stories and gothic undertones set in crumbling English mansions. "Black Rabbit Hall," her first book, made my 2016 ten favorites list.
Since that gives you plenty of books to start with if you are interested in books in this genre, I'll list a few other favorites just quickly: The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis (made my 2017 ten favorites list, haven't yet read her other book which is in the same genre, and she has a third coming out this summer); The Last Letter From Your Lover by Jojo Moyes (another author I love, but who usually writes contemporary fiction); Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (loved this book and the author has written lots of other historical fiction, just haven't quite gotten around to reading her other books yet even though I've been meaning to); The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith (this one is actually set in three different periods, and is my token book by a male author for this post, ha ha).
In the future, I'll be bringing you posts on other sub-genres of historical fiction - I'm thinking one on WWII fiction since that's a pretty big category, and then maybe others focused on setting - like US, Europe, Asia, etc. If anyone has any other specific requests, just let me know.
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