Barbara Ovstedal Standalone Novels books in order

Reading order

Barbara Ovstedal’s standalone novels cover a remarkable range of periods and locations. Published between 1969 and 2011, these 34 books move from medieval England to the Venetian Republic, from 19th-century Paris to wartime Scandinavia. Most were published under the pen name Rosalind Laker and share a common approach: each novel is built around a specific historical setting, often focusing on a particular craft or profession, and told from a woman’s point of view.

Her early novels from the late 1960s and 1970s tend toward shorter romantic fiction. From Banners Of Silk (1981) onward, her books grew more ambitious in scope. Several of her most admired works appeared during the late 1980s and early 1990s. To Dance With Kings spans four generations and the full rise and fall of the French monarchy at Versailles. The Silver Touch (1987) follows a silversmith’s family in Georgian England. The Venetian Mask (1992) is set against the carnival culture of 18th-century Venice. Her final novel, The House By The Fjord (2011), brought her writing career full circle with a story set in Norway, the country she had called home for decades.