# Bridgerton (novel series)
**Bridgerton** is a series of eight historical romance novels by the American author [Julia Quinn](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-quinn), set in Regency-era London between 1813 and 1827 and centered on the eight adult children of the late Viscount Bridgerton, each of whom finds a love match in one book.[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) Published between 2000 and 2006, the series became the basis for the Netflix television series *Bridgerton*, which premiered on December 25, 2020 and turned the books into bestsellers.[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Julia Quinn (real name Julie Pottinger), an American writer who studied art history at Harvard and briefly attended medical school at Yale[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/12/bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-accuracy-fantasy-feisty-rakish-artistocrats-jane-austen) • [2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) |
| Publication | Eight novels written between 2000 and 2006, set between 1813 and 1827[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) • [1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) |
| Premise | Each novel follows one of eight alphabetically named siblings: Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) |
| First book | *The Duke and I* (2000) spent three weeks on the *New York Times* Bestseller list, two weeks on *Publishers Weekly*, and five weeks on *USA Today*[4](https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/185355/130368772.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1) |
| Bestseller record | In March 2021, all eight Bridgerton books were on the *New York Times* list at the same time, a record for an adult fiction author[4](https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/185355/130368772.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1) |
| Sales and reach | More than 10 million copies of Quinn's books published in the U.S., translated into 32 languages[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) |
| Adaptation | Netflix's *Bridgerton*, produced by Shondaland, premiered December 25, 2020; Quinn served as a consultant[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) |
## The eight novels
The series gives each [Bridgerton](https://www.edgepedia.org/bridgerton) sibling a romance, though the books are not read in the order of the siblings' births. *The Duke and I* (2000) follows Daphne and Simon, Duke of Hastings, whose fake courtship becomes a real romance; *The Viscount Who Loved Me* is Anthony's story; *An Offer From a Gentleman* is Benedict's; *Romancing Mister Bridgerton* is Colin's; *To Sir Phillip, With Love* is Eloise's; *When He Was Wicked* is [Francesca's](https://www.edgepedia.org/francescas); *It's In His Kiss* is Hyacinth's; and *[On the Way to the Wedding](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-the-way-to-the-wedding)* (2006) closes the series with Gregory.[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) • [5](https://time.com/6980694/bridgerton-books-summary/)
**Lady Whistledown.** A recurring device is the mysterious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, whose society papers narrate the ton's scandals; her columns "narrated" the first four books.[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) Quinn originally planned the series as a trilogy, but extended it after readers took to the family and to Whistledown.[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/)
**Epilogues and related works.** After finishing the series, Quinn wrote "2nd Epilogues" updating each couple, later collected in *The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After* along with a bonus novella about the family matriarch Violet, "Violet in Bloom."[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) Two anthologies of Lady Whistledown stories, *The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown* and *Lady Whistledown Strikes Back*, are set in the same world.[6](https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/julia-quinn/)
## The author
Julia Quinn, whose real name is Julie Pottinger, began writing her first book one month after finishing university and has published more than two dozen novels.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/12/bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-accuracy-fantasy-feisty-rakish-artistocrats-jane-austen) • [6](https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/julia-quinn/) She is one of only sixteen authors ever inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.[6](https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/julia-quinn/) Reviewers and profile writers have repeatedly called her a "contemporary Jane Austen," and her books are known for witty dialogue and humor rather than dense period detail; she has said in interviews that she does not do extensive research before writing.[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) • [4](https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/185355/130368772.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
## Prequels and the Queen Charlotte novel
After the main series, Quinn wrote the four-book **Rokesby series**, a prequel set a generation earlier in the [Georgian era](https://www.edgepedia.org/georgian-era), beginning with *Because of Miss Bridgerton*, about the Bridgertons' neighbors; it features Billie Bridgerton, the eldest Rokesby-era daughter.[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) • [7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/julia-quinn.html) In 2023, Quinn and television producer [Shonda Rhimes](https://www.edgepedia.org/shonda-rhimes) co-wrote *Queen Charlotte*, a novel set in the Bridgerton universe and inspired by the Netflix series *Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story*; Kirkus described it as a novelization of a story written for television, covering the first year of marriage between Charlotte and [George III](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-iii).[1](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/) • [8](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-quinn/queen-charlotte/)
## The Netflix adaptation and its departures
The Netflix series, created by [Shondaland](https://www.edgepedia.org/shondaland), is mainly based on *The Duke and I* for its first season, and each subsequent season draws on a later book.[2](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/) The adaptation makes deliberate changes. It imagines a Regency England in which race is no barrier to entry into high society, whereas Quinn's novels feature only white characters.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/03/31/bridgerton-series-julia-quinn-novels/) • [10](https://dspace.uib.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11201/166554/Bauz%C3%A1_Manzanares_Aina.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1) In season two, the heroine [Katherine](https://www.edgepedia.org/katherine) (Kate) [Sheffield](https://www.edgepedia.org/sheffield) became Kathani (Kate) Sharma, played by Simone Ashley as a South Asian woman.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/03/31/bridgerton-series-julia-quinn-novels/) Season three adapted *Romancing Mister Bridgerton*, skipping Benedict's book, which comes next in the printed sequence.[11](https://time.com/6978591/bridgerton-season-3-differences-from-book/) Season four drew on *An Offer from a Gentleman*.[12](https://juliaquinn.com/news/) In the books Francesca is heterosexual, like every other romance in the series, but the showrunner made her television romance a sapphic love story, a change Quinn knew about before it was announced.[13](https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/books/best-queer-historical-romance-books/) • [14](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/why-bridgerton-author-willing-give-up-creative-control-shonda-rhimes-adapt-books) Quinn has said she is fine with changes, in part because the show lets more people see themselves in a period story with happy endings.[15](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/bridgerton-season-four-author-julia-quinn-interview)
## Historical accuracy and the genre
The novels, like the show, are a fantasy of the past rather than a record of it: they reimagine some elements, such as a more tolerant society, while leaving out others, including the class structure and slavery that supported aristocratic wealth.[16](https://scroll.in/article/1068216/scroll_in) Quinn herself has described the books as fantasy and said she has been "dinged by the accuracy police."[3](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/12/bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-accuracy-fantasy-feisty-rakish-artistocrats-jane-austen) A survey of almost 1,000 historical romance readers and writers conducted in 2019 and again in 2023 found that writers cared more about accuracy than readers: writers' average scores for requiring accuracy were 4 percent higher, and while many readers scored accuracy as low as 0 out of 5, no writer scored it below 3.[16](https://scroll.in/article/1068216/scroll_in) The series' success has shaped the genre: commentators credit Quinn with popularizing light-hearted, society-set Regency romances that prioritize humor and characterization over historical detail, and the show's popularity has driven a wave of modern Regency novels.[17](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/bridgerton-romance-novels-b2121605.html)
## References
1. [The Bridgerton Series, JuliaQuinn.com](https://juliaquinn.com/series/bridgertons/)
2. [Everything to Know About the Bridgerton Books Behind Netflix's Buzzy New Period Drama, TIME](https://time.com/5921482/bridgerton-books-netflix/)
3. [Bridgerton author Julia Quinn: 'I've been dinged by the accuracy police – but it's fantasy!', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/12/bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-accuracy-fantasy-feisty-rakish-artistocrats-jane-austen)
4. [Thesis citing JuliaQuinn.com on The Duke and I bestseller record, Charles University repository](https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/185355/130368772.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
5. [A Brief Synopsis of All Eight Bridgerton Books, TIME](https://time.com/6980694/bridgerton-books-summary/)
6. [Julia Quinn, Hachette UK contributor page](https://www.hachette.co.uk/contributor/julia-quinn/)
7. [Books by Julia Quinn and Complete Book Reviews, Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/authorpage/julia-quinn.html)
8. [QUEEN CHARLOTTE, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-quinn/queen-charlotte/)
9. ['Bridgerton' Season 2 strays from Julia Quinn's 'The Viscount Who Loved Me', The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/03/31/bridgerton-series-julia-quinn-novels/)
10. [Thesis on Bridgerton and representation, University of the Balearic Islands repository](https://dspace.uib.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11201/166554/Bauz%C3%A1_Manzanares_Aina.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
11. [Bridgerton Season 3 Is Dramatically Different From the Book, TIME](https://time.com/6978591/bridgerton-season-3-differences-from-book/)
12. [News, JuliaQuinn.com](https://juliaquinn.com/news/)
13. [The 15 Best Queer Historical Romance Books, Marie Claire](https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/books/best-queer-historical-romance-books/)
14. [Why Bridgerton's Author Was More Than Willing To Give Up Creative Control, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/why-bridgerton-author-willing-give-up-creative-control-shonda-rhimes-adapt-books)
15. [Bridgerton Author Julia Quinn Interview, Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/bridgerton-season-four-author-julia-quinn-interview)
16. [Do romance readers care about the historical accuracy of the 'Bridgerton' series of novels?, Scroll.in](https://scroll.in/article/1068216/scroll_in)
17. [The Bridgerton effect: The rise in modern Regency novels, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/bridgerton-romance-novels-b2121605.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Novel series and sagas › Romance, historical, and family-saga series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license