Jane Dunn

Historian and biographer Jane (FRSL) is the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Mary Shelley: Moon in Eclipse, the sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf: A Very Close Conspiracy, Antonia White: Bound to the Fiery Wheel and Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters, as well as the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. 

She is also the author of a trilogy of novels set in the Regency, beginning with The Marriage Season.

She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

Latest publication A SCANDALOUS MATCH - Boldwood Books - January 2024

‘Angelica had always known her lack of high birth, fortune or influence debarred her from being presented as an eligible young woman worthy of marriage. To cap it all, being an actress assured she was utterly beyond the pale of respectability.'

Nightly at the Covent Garden Theatre in London, an enchanting actress is wowing the crowds with her affecting portrayal of Ophelia. Preyed on by rakes and opportunistic young bucks, feted by dukes and earls, even the Prince Regent himself, Angelica Leigh is a sensation.

But in Regency England, beauty and talent are not enough to be considered marriage material, so when the eminently eligible Lord Charles Latimer sets his heart on Angelica, his uncle is sent to intervene.

As a highly respected, hard-working and wealthy lawmaker, The Honourable Ivor Asprey, is himself seen as desirable husband material, but widowed with an eleven-year-old daughter Elinor, he has forsaken all thoughts of romance. Lord Latimer’s mother, the Duchess of Arlington, despairs of her son, despite being reassured by Ivor that his infatuation with the actress will pass. But there is something about Angelica Leigh that demands attention, and even the austere and upstanding Mr Asprey isn’t immune to her charms.

Previous publication AN UNSUITABLE HEIRESS - Boldwood Books - May 2023

In Regency England, marriage is everything. For young widow Sybella Lovatt, the time has come to find a suitable husband for her sister and ward Lucie. Male suitors are scarce near their Wiltshire estate, so the sisters resolve to head to London in time for The Season to begin.

Once ensconced at the Mayfair home of Lady Godley, Lucie’s godmother, the whirl of balls, parties and promenades can begin. But the job of finding a husband is fraught with rules and tradition. Jostling for attention are the two lords – the charming and irresistible Freddie Lynwood and the preternaturally handsome Valentine Ravenell, their enigmatic neighbour from Shotten Hall, Mr Brabazon, and the dangerous libertine Lord Rockliffe, with whom the brooding Brabazon is locked in deadly rivalry.

Against the backdrop of glamorous Regency England, Sybella must settle Lucie’s future, protect her own reputation, and resist the disreputable rakes determined to seduce the beautiful widow. As the Season ends, will the sisters have found the rarest of things – a suitable marriage with a love story to match? 

Praise for THE MARRIAGE SEASON

'Jane Dunn’s THE MARRIAGE SEASON gives all the immersive pleasure of Georgette Heyer’s brilliantly confected Regency novels, in a sublime alternative world of joy.  BRIDGERTON look out!' Melanie Reid, The Times

'The author has breathed proper life and personality into every person she committed to the page here, and the book vibrates with life and emotion as a result … each and every character, whether central or supporting character, resonates with the reader and enhances the world the author has built here, just as it should be.' A Little Book Problem

Praise for ELIZABETH & MARY

‘Outstanding, perceptive and delightfully readable.’ Sunday Times Books of the Year

‘A deeply satisfying study of royal rivalry which ended in tragedy…Jane Dunn handles her subject with tremendous flair. Supremely accomplished.’ Anne Somerset, Literary Review

‘She writes with vigour and grace. This is an engaging and thoughtful new rendering of a story worth retelling.’ Spectator

‘Dunn writes with captivating elegance and piercing intelligence, is tender, scrupulous, ironic and worldly.’ Richard Davenport-Hines, Independent

 ‘A perceptive, suspenseful account of complex English history. . . . By the end of this satisfying book, one feels sympathy for both women, brave queens in an age when ‘no one considered that a woman could effectively rule alone.’’ New York Times Book Review