Lauren Willig is a New York Times bestselling author of historical novels. She is best known for her "Pink Carnation" series, which follows a collection of Napoleonic-Era British spies, similar to the Scarlet Pimpernel, as they fight for Britain and fall in love.

Biography

A native of New York City, Willig discovered historical fiction when she was only six years old, while she was attempting to find books about her idol, Eleanor of Aquitaine.^[1]

After graduating from the Chapin School, Willig attended Yale University, where she majored in Renaissance Studies and Political Science, and was Chairman of the Tory Party of the Yale Political Union. She then studied graduate level early modern European history at Harvard University before entering and graduating from Harvard Law School. Willig briefly worked for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a law firm in New York, while authoring her "Pink Carnation" series of books, until she gave up law in order to focus full-time on the series.

Willig's books have been named a Romantic Times Top Pick! and she has been nominated for a Quill Award in 2006. She has won the RITA Award for Best Regency Historical Romance, the RT Reviewers Choice Award for Historical Fiction, the Booksellers Best Award for Long Historical Romance, and the Golden Leaf Award.^[2]

In Spring of 2010, Willig taught Reading the Historical Romance at her alma mater, Yale University, along with fellow alumna and romance novelist Andrea DaRif, (penname: Cara Elliott).^[3] The course received a great deal of attention for helping to bring the romance novel academic notice.^[4][5]

Since winding up the Pink Carnation series, Willig has written seven stand alone works of historical fiction as well as co-authoring four novels with fellow historical fiction authors Karen White and Beatriz Williams.

Works

The Pink Carnation series

1. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (February 2005) ISBN 978-0-525-94860-5
2. The Masque of the Black Tulip (December 29, 2005) ISBN 978-0-525-94920-6
3. The Deception of the Emerald Ring (November 16, 2006) ISBN 978-0-525-94977-0
4. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose (January 31, 2008) ISBN 978-0-525-95033-2
5. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (January 22, 2009) ISBN 978-0-525-95096-7
6. The Betrayal of the Blood Lily (January 12, 2010) ISBN 978-0-525-95150-6
7. The Mischief of the Mistletoe (October 28, 2010) ISBN 978-0-525-95187-2
8. The Orchid Affair (January 20, 2011) ISBN 978-0-525-95199-5
9. The Garden Intrigue (February 16, 2012) ISBN 978-0-525-95254-1
10. The Passion of the Purple Plumeria (August 6, 2013) ISBN 978-0-451-41472-4
11. The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla (August 5, 2014) ISBN 978-0-451-41473-1
12. The Lure of the Moonflower (August 4, 2015) ISBN 978-0-451-47302-8

Historical fiction

• The Ashford Affair (April 9, 2013) ISBN 978-1-250-01449-8
• That Summer (June 3, 2014) ISBN 978-1-250-01450-4
• The Other Daughter (July 21, 2015) ISBN 978-1-250-05628-3
• The Forgotten Room (with Karen White and Beatriz Williams) (January 19, 2016) ISBN 978-0-451-47462-9
• The English Wife (January 9, 2018) ISBN 978-1-250-05627-6
• The Glass Ocean (with Karen White and Beatriz Williams) (September 4, 2018) ISBN 978-0-062-85948-8
• The Summer Country (June 4, 2019) ISBN 978-0-062-83902-2
• All the Ways We Said Goodbye (with Karen White and Beatriz Williams) (January 14, 2020) ISBN 978-0062931092
• Band of Sisters (March 2, 2021) ISBN 978-0-062-98615-3
• The Lost Summers of Newport (with Karen White and Beatriz Williams) (May 17, 2022) ISBN 978-0-063-04074-8
• Two Wars and a Wedding (March 21, 2023) ISBN 978-0062986184

Other works

• Two L (August 28, 2011) ISBN 978-1-4662-1298-5
• "A Night at Northanger" in Jane Austen Made Me Do It (October 2011) ISBN 978-0-345-52496-6
• "The Record Set Right" in A Fall of Poppies (March 22, 2016) ISBN 978-0-062-41854-8
• "Until We Meet Again" in A Paris All Your Own: Bestselling Women Writers on the City of Light (July 4, 2017) ISBN 978-0-399-57447-4