Grace Burrowes | Beautiful love stories, beautifully told

The Windham series contains three sub-series: The Duke's Obsession, The Duke's Daughters, and A Duke and His Duchess.

Please view the Windham Family Tree.

Once upon a time there was me, Grace Burrowes, sitting in a bar with an acquiring editor, Deb Werksman, from Sourcebooks. This was our first encounter and so she asked me how many completed manuscripts I had.

“’Bout twenty,” was my answer—twenty-four being “’bout twenty” when you’ve had a nip of Dutch courage. Once we signed a deal, Madam Editor sifted and sorted through those diamonds in the rough muttering things about positioning and market strategy. She eventually emerged from her conjuring place to tell me that Westhaven, St. Just and Lord Valentine would be my initial trilogy.

Oh, yippee! I wrote a trilogy! And more good news, as The Heir hit the shelves, I was given an opportunity to write a Christmas book as well. We decided that the Christmas book, Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish, could feature a Windham sister, and this turned out to be one of most enjoyable books I’ve written. Inspired by that experience, I went forth with stories for the remaining four Windham sisters.

I didn’t set out to write an-eight sibling series, but as much fun as I’ve had with it, I now wish Their Graces had managed a few more offspring. Of course, Percival and Esther probably have a tale to tell, and Uncle Tony and Aunt Gladys are blessed with four female offspring, and then there are the prequel books and the sequels and spin-offs. Suffice it to say that the Windhams and their related books will keep me busy for a long time to come!

The Duke's Obsession is a sub-series of the larger Windham series.

Percival Windham, the aging Duke of Moreland, has three passions: His undying devotion to his duchess, his parliamentary scheming, and his determination to see his sons wed and the ducal succession secured. To this end, he will lecture, scheme, and intrigue with every resource available to a powerful peer. Only his duchess can reason with His Grace when he becomes fixed on a goal—and even Her Grace has her hands full.

I am from a large family, and so I tend to think in sibling groups and familial relations. Not only does this give my stories plenty of secondary characters to consider for future books, but it also deepens motivations for my heroes and heroines, and makes them more human than they might be otherwise. Their Graces appear in all of the Windham sons’ sibling books, and as much as each man gets his happily ever after, the Duke and the Duchess get one too—did I mention that I’m a parent too?

Reading order:

Book 1: The Heir
Book 2: The Soldier
Book 3: The Virtuoso

The Duke's Daughters is a sub-series of the larger Windham series.

Having successfully married off their sons, the Duke and Duchess of Moreland turn their matchmaking hopes to the five Windham daughters: Sophie, Maggie, Louisa, Evie and Jenny. Each young woman’s marital hopes are dimming, but in each case, brothers, sisters, and parents conspire to win the ladies their happily ever afters, despite all odds to the contrary.

We start the Duke’s Daughters off with Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish, then continue with Lady Maggie’s Secret Scandal. I am on good terms with the entire Burrowes family, though there’s just something special about having sisters to share life’s joys and setbacks with. Some of that sibling closeness comes out in this series, though those three fellows we met earlier also stick their handsome noses in from time to time.

Reading order:

Book 1: Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish
Book 2: Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal
Book 3: Lady Louisa's Christmas Knight
Book 4: Lady Eve's Discretion
Book 5: Lady Jenny's Christmas Portrait (October 2013)

A Duke and His Duchess is a sub-series of the larger Windham series.

In The Courtship (November 2012), Lord Percival Windham and Miss Esther Himmelfarb come from different stations, but find themselves at the same house party, both trying to avoid matrimonial schemes while meeting the expectations of their various meddling relatives. Percival, recently back from the Canadian wilderness, relies on sensible, pretty Esther Himmelfarb for safe passage through the ballrooms and gardens of polite society, while Esther finds herself increasingly smitten with a man far above her touch. Available for early download from Discover a New Love.

In The Duke and His Duchess (March 2013) Percival and Esther are five years into their marriage and up to their knees in babies, bills, and family difficulties. The old duke's memory is slipping, the heir is ailing, and nothing will serve but that Percival and Esther must remove bag and baggage to London. Percival's former amours are all to ready to add complications and burdens to a marriage already teetering on the edge of despair, unless the next Duke of Moreland can resolve matters in a manner that will renew the romance between him and his duchess.

Reading order:

Book 1: The Courtship
Book 2: The Duke and His Duchess (March 2013)

The Scottish Highlands early in Queen Victoria's reign form the back drop for stories relating to three Scottish earls from various branches of Clan MacGregor. Ian MacGregor (The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, December 2012) must marry an heiress to refill the empty clan coffers, though the woman who fills his heart is poor, plain and determined that Ian should marry lucratively. In the second book, (Once Upon a Tartan, August 2013), Tiberius Flynn, Earl of Spathfoy, has come to the Highlands to take custody of his little niece, but finds instead that the girl's aunt Hester captures Tye's heart. The final story, The MacGregor's Lady (2014?) follows the tale of Asher MacGregor and his efforts to find a husband for American heiress Hannah Cooper, while avoiding matrimonial entanglements for himself.

Reading order: