Johanna Helen Lindsey (née Howard, March 10, 1952 – October 27, 2019) was an American writer of historical romance novels. All of her books reached the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' bestseller list, many reaching No. 1.

Personal life

Johanna Helen Howard was born on March 10, 1952 in Frankfurt, West Germany. Her mother was Wanda Donaldson Howard, a personnel management specialist. Her father was Edwin Dennis Howard, a soldier in the U.S. Army, stationed in West Germany, where she was born. The Howard family moved about a great deal when she was young due to her father's military career. Her father always dreamed of retiring to Hawaii, but he died in 1964. That year, her family moved to Hawaii, likely to honor his wish. In 1970, when she was still in school, she married Ralph Bruce Lindsey, becoming a young housewife. The marriage continued, the couple residing in Hawaii and producing three children; Alfred, Joseph and Garret, who have made her a grandmother. After her husband's death, Lindsey moved to Maine and did not remarry.

Writing career

Lindsey wrote her first book, ''Captive Bride'', in 1977 "on a whim". The book was a success, as have been the forty-nine novels that followed. As of 2006 more than fifty-eight million copies of her books had been sold worldwide, and her work has been translated into twelve languages.

Style

Owing to their diversity of settings Lindsey's work covers a number of romance subgenres, including historical fiction (

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

, American

frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

, and Viking eras) and science fiction. Her most popular books are a series of Regency sagas about the fictional Malory family ( see Family Tree). Richard Sandomir of the ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' explained,

Lindsey set her passionate tales in many locales, including the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
; the Barbary Coast;
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
as early as the year 873;
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, when the Vikings ruled; 19th-century
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
and
Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
; and the planet Kystran, in a series of science-fiction bodice-rippers.

Bibliography

By Reading Order

Viking Haardrad Family Saga Series

# ''

Fires of Winter ''Fires of Winter'' is a novel by Johanna Lindsey originally published in September 1980 by Avon Books. It is the first book in the Haardrad Family Saga Series. Plot: The Viking invaders came from across an icy sea, taking lady Brenna as their c ...

'' (1980) # '' Hearts Aflame'' (1987) # ''Surrender My Love'' (1994)

Southern Series

# ''Glorious Angel'' (1982) # ''Heart of Thunder'' (1983)

Deep space/ Ly-san-ter Family Saga

# ''Warrior's Woman'' (1990) # ''Keeper Of The Heart'' (1993) # ''Heart Of A Warrior'' (2001) (Deep space - Earth)

Wyoming westerns series

# ''Brave the Wild Wind'' (1984) # ''Savage Thunder'' (1989) # ''Angel'' (1992)

Malory-Anderson Family Saga Series

# ''Love Only Once'' (1985) (Regina Ashton/Nicholas Eden) # ''Tender Rebel'' (1988) (Anthony Malory/Roslynn Chadwick) # ''Gentle Rogue'' (1990) (James Malory/Georgina Anderson) # ''The Magic of You'' (1993) (Amy Malory/Warren Anderson) # ''Say You Love Me'' (1996) (Derek Malory/Kelsey Langton) # ''The Present'' (1998) (Christopher Malory/Anastasia Stephanoff) # ''A Loving Scoundrel'' (2004) (Jeremy Malory/Danette "Danny" Hilary) # ''Captive of My Desires'' (2006) (Drew Anderson/Gabrielle Brooks) # ''No Choice But Seduction'' (2008) (Boyd Anderson/Katey Tyler) # ''That Perfect Someone'' (2010) (Richard Allen/Julia Miller) # ''Stormy Persuasion'' (2014) (Judith Malory/Nathan Tremayne) # ''Beautiful Tempest'' (2017) (Jacqueline Malory/Damon Reeves)

Straton Family Saga Series

# ''A Heart So Wild'' (1986) # ''All I Need Is You'' (1997)

Medieval (Shefford's Knights) Series

# ''Defy Not the Heart'' (1989) # ''Joining'' (1999)

Cardinia's Royal Family

# ''Once a Princess'' (1991) # ''You Belong to Me'' (1994)

Sherring Cross Series

# ''Man of My Dreams'' (1992) # ''Love Me Forever'' (1995) # ''The Pursuit'' (2002)

Locke Family Series

# ''The Heir'' (2000) (Duncan MacTavish and Sabrina Lambert) # ''The Devil Who Tamed Her'' (2007) (Raphael Locke and Ophelia Reid) # ''A Rogue of My Own'' (2009) (Rupert St. John and Rebecca Marshall) # ''Let Love Find You'' (2012) (Devin Baldwin and Amanda Locke)

Montana Series

# ''One Heart to Win'' (2013) (Tiffany Warren & Hunter Callahan) # ''Wildfire in His Arms'' (2015) (Maxine & Degan Grant) # ''Marry Me by Sundown'' (2018) (Violet Mitchell & Morgan Callahan)

Single novels

* ''Captive Bride'' (1977) * ''A Pirate's Love'' (1978) * ''Paradise Wild'' (1981) * ''So Speaks the Heart'' (1983) * ''A Gentle Feuding'' (1984) * ''Tender Is the Storm'' (1985) * ''When Love Awaits'' (1986) * ''Secret Fire'' (1987) * ''Silver Angel'' (1988) * ''Prisoner of My Desire'' (1991) * ''Until Forever'' (1995) * ''Home for the Holidays'' (2000) * ''A Man to Call My Own'' (2003) * ''Marriage Most Scandalous'' (2006) * ''When Passion Rules'' (2011) * ''Make Me Love You'' (2016) * ''Temptation's Darling'' (2019)

By Setting

Middle Ages

Medieval Vikings * ''Fires of Winter'' (1980) * ''Hearts Aflame'' (1987) * ''Surrender My Love'' (1994)

=Medieval England

= * ''So Speaks the Heart'' (1983) * ''A Gentle Feuding'' (1984) * ''When Love Awaits'' (1986) * ''Defy Not the Heart'' (1989) * ''Prisoner of My Desire'' (1991) * ''Joining'' (1999)

Early Modern Times

Arabian Dunes * ''Captive Bride'' (1977) * ''Silver Angel'' (1988) Caribbean * ''A Pirate's Love'' (1978)

Modern Times

Regency England

* ''Love Only Once'' (1985) * ''Tender Rebel'' (1988) * ''Gentle Rogue'' (1990) * ''The Magic Of You'' (1993) * ''Say You Love Me'' (1996) * ''The Present'' (1998) * ''A Loving Scoundrel'' (2004) * ''Captive of My Desires'' (2006) * ''No Choice But Seduction'' (2008) * ''Stormy Persuasion'' (2014) * ''Make Me Love You'' (2016)

Regency England & Scotland

* ''Man of My Dreams'' (1992) * ''Love Me Forever'' (1995) * ''Home for the Holidays'' (2000) * ''The Heir'' (2000) * ''The Pursuit'' (2002) * ''Marriage Most Scandalous'' (2006) * ''The Devil Who Tamed Her'' (2007) * ''A Rogue of My Own'' (2009) * ''Let Love Find You'' (2012) * ''Temptation's Darling'' (2019)

Eastern Europe

* ''Secret Fire'' (1987) (London --> Russia) * ''Once a Princess'' (1991) (U.S. --> Cardinia) * ''You Belong to Me'' (1994) (Russia --> Cardinia) * ''When Passion Rules (2011) (London --> Lubinia)

America in 19th century

* ''Paradise Wild'' (1981) (Boston --> Hawaii) * ''Glorious Angel'' (1982) (Texas) * ''Heart of Thunder'' (1983) (Wild West) * ''Brave the Wild Wind'' (1984) (Wyoming) * ''Tender Is the Storm'' (1985) (Wild West) * ''A Heart So Wild'' (1986) (Texas) * ''Savage Thunder'' (1989) (Wyoming) * ''Angel'' (1992) (Wild West) * ''All I Need Is You'' (1997) (Wild West) * ''A Man to Call My Own'' (2003) (Wild West) * ''One Heart to Win (2013)'' (Wild West) (50th novel by Johanna Lindsey) * ''Wildfire in His Arms'' (2015) (Wild West) * ''Marry Me by Sundown'' (2018) (Wild West)

Paranormal Fantasy

Deep space/ Ly-san-ter Family Saga * ''Warrior's Woman'' (1990) * ''Keeper Of The Heart'' (1993) * ''Heart Of A Warrior'' (2001) (Deep space --> Earth) Time Travel * ''Until Forever'' (1995) (Now --> Middle Ages)

Legacy

The covers of Lindsey's novels have been parodied, fitting in as they do with a trend in romance publishing to use gaudy painted designs that feature a muscular male model with his chest exposed, towering above or otherwise dominating floridly dressed women. In December 2019, her son Alfred announced that Lindsey died on October 27, 2019 at the age of 67. The cause of death was Stage 4 lung cancer. Italian model

Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin '' Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

was often featured on the cover of Lindsey's work. In 1987, Fabio first appeared on Lindsey's novel '' Hearts Aflame'', painted by

Elaine Duillo Elaine I. Duillo (July 28, 1928 – July 30, 2021) was an American painter and illustrator known for her romance fiction book covers. She was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2003. Early life Elaine studied at the Hi ...

. This has been credited with launching Fabio's career as a male model. By 1992, over 55,000,000 romance novels featuring Fabio were sold. Fabio expressed his condolences in 2019 upon hearing of Lindsey's death:

I loved being featured on her covers. To this day, ''Man of My Dreams'' is still one of my all time favorites. Rest in peace, Johanna. Thank you for sharing your gift. You will be missed.

References

External links

Johanna Lindsey's Official Website

Johanna Lindsey's Webpage
in Fantastic Fiction's Website
Johanna Lindsey bio and title list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsey, Johanna 1952 births 2019 deaths American romantic fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Women romantic fiction writers American women novelists