7 Dreamy Romance Sagas from Gwen Bristow

Bristow’s debut novel and the first installment in her bestselling Plantation Trilogy, which follows two Louisana families over the course of several generations, Deep Summer introduces readers to pioneer Judith Sheramy. When her father is awarded a parcel of land in Louisana for his service in the French and Indian War, Judith and her family venture down the Mississippi to start their new life.

On the way, Judith meets the handsome Philip Larne, an adventurer and thief who quickly steals her heart. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, the two struggle to maintain the massive and dangerous wilderness of Philip’s three thousand acre plantation.

Set against the Civil War, the second novel in the Plantation Trilogy follows the changing fortunes of southern belle Amy Sheramy-Larne and “po’ white trash” Corrie May Upjohn. 

The Handsome Road is a fascinating look into the historic realities and divisions between the impoverished and wealthy in the American South, as well as the relationships between poor whites and the recently freed slaves.

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A continuation of the characterization and conflict between the genteel Southern aristocrats and the “poor whites,” the final installment of Bristow’s Plantation Trilogy jumps ahead in time to the first world war. 

In 1912, Eleanor Upjohn works as a secretary for her father Fred, who has made a successful career as a builder of river levees despite being born into poverty. When she meets plantation owner Kester Larne, it's love at first sight. But can they overcome the huge gaps in their two social classes and survive the revolutionary societal changes wrought by World War I?

Elizabeth Herlong seemed to have a perfect life. The wife of successful movie producer Sterling Herlong and mother to three beautiful children, Elizabeth lives a luxurious life in Hollywood. But her past continues to haunt her. Elizabeth’s first husband, Arthur, went off to fight in World War I and never came back. 

Now with the outbreak of World War II, Elizabeth faces losing her son in the same devastating way. When an aged and disfigured German refugee befriends the Herlong family, Elizabeth begins to work through her past traumas and look to the future with tentative hope.

Written over the course of seven years, Jubilee Trail offers a fictionalized account of the early Santa Fe Trail pioneers. Set against the backdrop of westward expansion in the 1840s, the novel follows the adventures of two women. 

Garnet Cameron, a New York socialite, marries trader Oliver Hale and follows him out west. On route, Garnet meets and befriends dance-hall performer Florinda Grove. As the band of travelers makes their painstaking way over the trail to Los Angeles, the two women learn the importance of friendship and the endurance of love.

Celia Garth is a seamstress working in a dress shop in Charleston, South Carolina. When the American Revolution begins, Celia is a witness to the devastation and bloodshed that ravages the Carolina countryside. It is not looking good for the Revolutionaries and many Americans, like Celia’s cousin Roy, defect to the crown’s side. 

But Celia has not given up. She believes that Francis Marion, the so-called “Swamp Fox,” may be able to beat back the British forces. Determined to be useful, Celia becomes a spy for Marion, stitching and secretly snitching from her dress shop.

The year is 1848 and Kendra Logan has just arrived in San Francisco, a small village made up of 900 people. Newly married, she ventures with a ragtag group of settlers into the mountains to see the so-called “yellow mica.” When they return to the village, Kendra and her comrades bear with them treasures that will transform their lives and the future of the west coast.  

Bristow’s detailed historic account of the California Gold Rush is balanced by her vivid characters and their captivating stories, particularly the enduring and endearing relationship between Kendra and her sassy best friend Marny.