If you like Bridgerton then you’ll love these books

Kat O'Connor

Bridgerton fans will love these books.

If you’re a fan of the Bridgerton book series then you’ll love these reads. I’ve gathered up a list of classics and historical reads that even Lady Whistledown would approve of.

There’s no doubt you’ll be glued to these books so if you’re looking for something that can help fill the Anthony Bridgerton-shaped hole on your bookshelf, we’ve got you covered.

Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce

London, 1941. Amid the falling bombs Emmeline Lake dreams of becoming a fearless Lady War Correspondent. Unfortunately, Emmy instead finds herself employed as a typist for the formidable Henrietta Bird, the renowned agony aunt at Woman’s Friend magazine.

Mrs Bird refuses to read, let alone answer, letters containing any form of Unpleasantness, and definitely not those from the lovelorn, grief-stricken or morally conflicted.

But the thought of these desperate women waiting for an answer at this most desperate of times becomes impossible for Emmy to ignore. She decides she simply must help and secretly starts to write back – after all, what harm could that possibly do?

Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Alex Claremont-Diaz is handsome, charismatic, a genius – pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House ever since his mother first became President of the United States. There’s only one problem. When the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an altercation between Alex and Prince Henry, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family and state devise a plan for damage control: stage a truce. But what begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon they are hurtling into a secret romance that could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Mrs Bennet has five daughters to marry. Not easy when they have a small dowry, and suitors are scarce. But a new young gentleman has just arrived at Netherfield Park, the neighbouring estate, and the good manners of the English gentry of the Regency era quickly arrange a ball to meet him.

Mr Bingley soon becomes involved with the eldest daughter, Jane, and there is almost talk of marriage. The same cannot be said of his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, who for her part has met the man who is certainly the proudest in the county in the person of Mr. Darcy, a friend of Mr. Bingley’s, with whom she has an icy, barely polite relationship. This rather obnoxious and haughty character, however, takes a great interest in this sassy, witty and independent young woman.

A Question of Honour: The Other Guinness Girl by Emily Hourican

Lady Honor Guinness is a reluctant wallflower. But that all changes when she marries Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, a charming and ambitious American.

On his arm, she finds herself at the heart of 1930s London’s most elite social circles, mingling with aristocrats, politicians and royalty. But it’s not too long before Chips begins to prioritise his aspirations over all else, and Honor begins to wonder who exactly she has married.

By her side is her best friend Doris, a young woman eager to establish her place in society. A social butterfly who keeps the details of her family background to herself, Doris is hopeful her beauty and charm will win her a suitable husband, but she has no interest in a romantic attachment. Until she is introduced to ‘the most devastating man in London’.

April Lady by Georgette Heyer

Nell Cardross and her husband are madly in love…

But they’re very bad at showing it. While Nell believes her new husband, the Earl, married her out of convenience, Giles Cardross worries that his young wife is more interested in his money than his heart.

And Nell’s secretive and extravagant spending is becoming a problem…

As she attempts to pay off her brother’s never-ending gambling debts, and prevent the Earl’s half-sister from eloping with a potentially ruinous match, will Nell’s heart of gold lead her – and her marriage – into trouble?