Bridgerton (novel series)

The Bridgerton novel series is a collection of eight historical romances by the New York Times best-selling author Julia Quinn. The novels preceded the popular Netflix series that debuted on the streaming service on December 25, 2020. The fifty-year-old author, a former jackpot winner on The Weakest Link, a game show, fiercely advocates that romance is a solid genre for intelligent readers as much as it is a moneymaker for publishers. The series, set between 1813 and 1827, chronicles the love lives of eight alphabetically named siblings who squabble as much as they love. The siblings—Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth—are all children of the late Viscount Edmund Bridgerton. Each of the eight novels tells the story of a Bridgerton sibling. Quinn also wrote a final epilogue novel and a bonus novella about Dowager Viscountess Violet Bridgerton, widow of Edmund and mother of the eight siblings.

Background

The Bridgerton series was born out of the uncertainty that Quinn had about her life while a senior at Harvard University where she was on the cusp of earning an art history degree. She then decided to go to medical school and needed to occupy her time for two years while she took the science classes required to obtain medical school admission. She chose to write a romance novel, Splendid, which was published on May 1, 1995, and followed it with seven other novels before The Duke and I, the first Bridgerton book, was published in 2000.

Quinn, whose real name is Julie Pottinger, found quick and unexpected success as a writer, with her first two books producing a bidding war between publishing houses and causing her to delay medical school to write a third and fourth novel. She was accepted into Yale School of Medicine, which she briefly attended before withdrawing to focus solely on her writing career.

As of 2022, Quinn lived in Seattle, where she enjoyed renewed interest in her novels thanks to Netflix’s streaming adaptations. The Bridgerton novels first came to the attention of Netflix executives through television producer Shonda Rhimes who developed a fixation on the books after reading the first novel on vacation. Rhimes passed the books on to fellow television producer Chris Van Dusen, who went on to create and executive-produce the Netflix series. Quinn served as a consultant on the adaptations.

Overview

The Bridgerton series, dedicated to Quinn’s husband, Paul, is set mostly in the Regency era of British history, a period spanning the years 1811 to 1820. During this time, George, Prince of Wales, governed the country as a regent for his father, George III, who suffered from debilitating health problems. The Regency is often credited with bringing forth social and cultural development in painting, sculpture, literature, music, technology, and science and is often regarded as an epoch marked by refinement and sophistication in arts and manners.

The novels, which reflect the era, recount the romantic adventures of the bickering but unquestionably affectionate Bridgerton siblings. The plot of the novels involves sharp, clever, and feisty women falling for handsome, titled men in the high society of early nineteenth-century London. Male-female power dynamics are often at play because the series takes place during a time when women considered husband-hunting to be a primary occupation.

The Duke and I, the first installment in the eight-novel series, chronicles an initially staged romance between an eligible duke, Simon Basset, and his best friend’s sister, Daphne Bridgerton. The two concoct the romance ruse to free Simon of London’s societal and maternal expectations and attract worthy, competing suitors for Daphne. As they persist in their pretense, the false reality begins to fade as they truly fall for each other. The Viscount Who Loved Me tells the story of a similarly elusive London bachelor, Anthony Bridgerton, who has decided to marry but is upended by his love interest’s older sister Kate Sheffield. An Offer from a Gentleman introduces Sophie Beckett, daughter of an earl relegated to housemaid status because of her contemptuous stepmother. Her rescue tale takes shape when Benedict Bridgerton emerges on scene.

In the fourth installment, readers meet Penelope Featherington and her best friend’s brother, Colin Bridgerton, in a tale of love-from-afar that also involves deep secrets and simmering mysteries. Romancing Mister Bridgerton presents a life-altering question for a charmer whom gossip columnists cannot seem to ignore. In the next novel, readers meet Eloise Bridgerton, a spinster, and Sir Phillip Crane, who made some faulty assumptions about unmarried women. To Sir Phillip, With Love also involves flawed suppositions on Eloise’s part and puts forward a central question of whether an imperfect partner may be perfect after all.

When He Was Wicked tells the story of Francesca Bridgerton’s romance with the prodigal Michael Stirling, who would fit well in the description of a modern-day playboy. It’s In His Kiss combines family power dynamics, diary secrets, and an outspoken and challenging heroine, Hyacinth Bridgerton, who has a forceful hold on hero Gareth St. Clair. It is a mystery fraught with discord and passion. On the Way to the Wedding introduces Gregory Bridgerton, an idealist unlike other men of his time, and is a romance tale involving two women: Hermione Watson and Lady Lucinda Abernathy—only one of whom can be “the one.”

The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After, which follows the eight novels in the series, is the collection of Bridgerton “second epilogues” that answer the question, “What happened next?” Included is a bonus short story about matriarch Violet Bridgerton.

In April 2021, all eight books were simultaneously on the New York Times Best Seller List. Both the novels and the Netflix series are extremely popular. Quinn has said she wants fans to have a tough time deciding which they enjoyed more, the novels or the series. Quinn also has noted that a book can contain much more than can fit into an adaptation, and showrunners and television writing teams might find one aspect of a basic story more intriguing than the original author did, resulting in a fresh take.

Bibliography

“Bridgerton Books Are Popular Again, Thanks to Netflix Show.” CBC/Radio-Canada, 7 Apr. 2022, www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/bridgerton-books-popularity-1.6411576. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.

Flood, Alison. “Bridgerton Author Julia Quinn: ‘I’ve Been Dinged by the Accuracy Police—But It’s Fantasy!” The Guardian, 12 Jan. 2021, www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/12/bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-accuracy-fantasy-feisty-rakish-artistocrats-jane-austen. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.

Jones, Adrienne. “Why Bridgerton Author Julia Quinn Wants People to Have ‘Trouble’ Deciding Whether the Books or the Show Is Better.” Cinemablend.com, 2 May 2022, www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/why-bridgerton-author-julia-quinn-wants-people-to-have-trouble-deciding-whether-the-books-or-the-show-is-better. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.

“Official Bio.” Juliaquinn.com, juliaquinn.com/about/. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.

“The Regency Period.” The Regency Town House, www.rth.org.uk/regency-period. Accessed 15 Nov. 2022.