If You Like Diana Gabaldon...

updated 4/09

Possession: a Romance  by A.S. Byatt
Roland Mitchell is a research assistant obsessed with the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash. When he discovers two of Randolph's letters written to an anonymous woman, he embarks on a detective mission that brings him to Maud Bailey, a fellow academic with literary obsessions of her own. The pair uncover letters, journals and poems, and follow an exhilarating trail that threatens to unhinge everything they've ever thought about life and Iiterature. What emerges is an extraordinary novel about the intersection of passion and ideas.

Midnight Honor by Marcia Canham
As war sweeps through Scotland during the Jacobite rebellion, conflicting loyalties, seductive enemies, honor and patriotism threaten to separate Angus Moy, leader of the Clan Chattan, and his beautiful wife, Lady Anne. Also try My Forever Love.

Into The Wilderness by Sarah Donati
Elizabeth Middleton moves from her comfortable home in England to the wilderness of 18th-century upstate New York where her judge father rules the domain. Independent in spirit, she is appalled at her father's plans to marry her off to a rich doctor. Enter Nathaniel Bonner of the broad shoulders, flowing locks and dangling earring. He is the son of Hawkeye, who is the adopted son of Chingachgook, and a multifaceted romantic hero passionate about family and his home on a mountain called Hidden Wolf. Also try Dawn on a Distant Shore.

Time and Again by Jack Finney
Illustrator Simon Morley accepts a government assignment that takes him out of his 20th-century apartment and transports him back to the streets of New York City in 1882. Simon thoroughly enjoys the experience, falls in love and works at keeping his actions from altering the course of history. Also try From Time to Time.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
This widely popular novel presents a story demonstrating of the impact of the Civil War on lovers. Inman is not the man he used to be, as wounded in battle he slowly makes his way home to North Carolina. His sweetheart, Ada, too has changed, no longer a flighty belle but a hard-working farm woman. Will love be the same? Also try Thirteen Moons.

Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Moning
Legendary warrior and lover Hawk meets his match when beautiful and headstrong Adrienne de Simone is whisked back in time by a vengeful fairy from modern-day Seattle into the arms of the arrogant 16th-century Scottish rogue. Also try To Tame a Highland Warrior.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This debut novel is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36, and were married when Clare was 23 and Henry 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
By the Nobel Prize winner Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago is an epic set during the Russian Revolution as well as a love story. A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget.

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult
Ever since his beloved Aimee was killed in a car accident, Ross Wakeman has deliberately put himself at risk, hoping to die. When nothing works, or brings him any closer to Aimee, he moves in with his sister, Shelby, in Comtosook, Vermont. As chance would have it, strange phenomena are plaguing the town, and Ross is drawn into an investigation of a piece of land that local Abenaki Indians claim is an old burial ground. In the process, he meets lovely Lia Beaumont, who has some mysterious connection to sinister goings-on 70 years before.

Time and Again by Nora Roberts
After 23rd-century time traveler Caleb Hornblower crash-lands in our present, he relies on Liberty Stone to help him survive; and Jacob Hornblower heads back into the past to rescue his stranded brother, only to find himself falling for Sunbeam Stone.

Knight Errant by R. Garcia y Robertson
Traveling in Britain near the border between England and Wales, a young American woman is swept back in time to the era of the War of the Roses and falls in love with a young knight, a prince destined to become king. The Robyn Stafford novels continue with Lady Robyn and White Rose.

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
In the 12th century, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe returns home to England from the Third Crusade to claim his inheritance and the love of the lady Rowena. The heroic adventures of this noble Saxon knight involve him in the struggle between Richard the Lion-Hearted and his malignant brother John: a conflict that brings Ivanhoe into alliance with the mysterious outlaw Robin Hood and his legendary fight for the forces of good.

Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton
A real historical figure, Elizabeth married into the family of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In those times of hardship, famine and Indian attacks, many believed that the only way to prosper was through the strong, bigoted and theocratic government that John Winthrop favored. Defying the government and her family, Elizabeth befriends famous heretic Anne Hutchinson, challenges an army captain and dares to love a man. Through Elizabeth's three marriages, struggles with her passionate beliefs, and countless rebellions, a powerful tale of fortitude, humiliation and ultimate triumph shines through.