Barbara Cartland

Few authors are as instantly recognizable as Barbara Cartland, the British writer who turned out historical romances by the hundreds and became a celebrity in her own right. Her novels are almost always set in the Regency or Victorian period and follow a beautifully consistent formula: an innocent heroine, a dashing and slightly dangerous hero, a flutter of peril, and a chaste, triumphant happy ending.

There is no spice here, and that's the point — Cartland's romances are sweet, swift, and decorous, built around longing glances and noble feeling rather than anything more. For readers who love a clean historical with an old-fashioned heart, she remains the gold standard.

• For readers who adore sweet, clean historical romance
• No spice — courtship, longing, and a chaste happy ending
• Hundreds of Regency and Victorian-set novels to choose from