If you’re like me – a fan of time-travel stories where the hero (or more usually the heroine) goes back to Tudor England – then you’ll love this list of titles I have compiled for your reading enjoyment.
Why time-traveling to Tudor England, you ask? Because I have written a trilogy starting in 2015 that sends a modern girl spinning back to 1565, so I have skin in this particular game. Indeed, since I first published my book, I’ve kept an eye on the genre – and am constantly amazed at how many books it has! (Or possibly it’s that thing that when you are alerted to something, you start to see it everywhere…).
Maybe it’s the romance of Tudor England (all that swashbuckling, intrigue, courtly love and great costumes – what’s not to love?) – that draws writers and readers alike. And what better way to experience it, than through the eyes of a modern-day protagonist?
So welcome to the world of modern-day / Tudor crossover. There’s lots of romance, danger, action and plenty of royalty. Does the heroine travel back and forward? Or is her time travel a one-way trip? Does she find love – or the need to survive? All the authors in this list have faced these challenges – and their different solutions give you lots of great stories to enjoy.
For all that, it’s still small compared to the main genres, so if you love it, you can fill your TBR fairly easily. To that end, here are my suggestions (in no particular order). Click on the images to go through to the Amazon page for each book:
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
Modern heroine encounters a Tudor nobleman in a graveyard. A romance with emotional depth and sweeping adventure.
The Elizabethan Time Travel Series by Morgan O’Neill
This series (a trilogy plus prequel) is an ideal way to get absorbed into the genre. The Thornless Rose is Book 1, but you can start with Begun by Time, the prequel. Then crack on with the rest of the series, as Catherine Hastings pursues her lover through Tudor England.
The Timeless Falcon Series by Phillipa Vincent-Connolly
A modern-day history student finds herself pulled back to the 1520s when she puts on a historical ring. There she becomes involved with the young Anne Boleyn, and faces choices that could affect history.
The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick
This is a tme-slip story featuring Mary Seymour, the child of Queen Katherine Parr who supposedly died – but who is apparently brought up an orphan in Wolf Hall. Combining a modern story with Mary’s tale, this novel brings the two eras together in an intriguing way – in that the time traveller comes from the past to our time and is trying to return.
Timeless Love by Judith O’Brien
I haven’t read this one, and it only has a few reviews, but I’ve included it her as it seems to fit the genre.
A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley
One for the younger reader. First published in the 1930s, this time-slip novel features a girl falling back to Elizabethan times when she visits an old country house. There she encounters Mary Queen of Scots, and tries to save her from her fate.
When Love Unlocks Time by Camilla Cornish
I read this book many years ago, so I went back to my review. Here’s what I said:
“Strong plot and characters
I thought the plot was very strong, with a neat device regarding the ‘mechanics’ of time travel that meant Miranda was able to try out different scenarios. This reminded me of Groundhog Day, and I thought it worked well. The characters were well drawn and I warmed to them all (although I felt Miranda was a little too ready to switch her deep and heartfelt love from one powerful man to another).
What let this down for me, and the reason for 3 stars, was the style of writing. In particular it was the use of comma splices instead of full stops. I found myself grimacing every time a disconnected phrase was followed by a disconnected phrase, separated by a comma not a full stop. The writing would have been so much clearer, more descriptive, and so much more engaging, if this simple grammatical error had been corrected throughout. In the end I found myself mentally adding the full stops, so I could concentrate on the story.
I did enjoy this book, and would recommend it as good read if you like time travel, Tudors and a strong plot, but can only say that if it were edited to remove the frequent comma splicing, then it would have had 5 stars from me.”
Note: I am not a fan of comma splices…
In case you’re wondering – I decided not to include my own book in this list – this post is about other authors not me.
Jonathan Posner, Exeter, December 2025.
