Fiona McIntosh has built a devoted following by writing exactly the kind of books readers want to disappear into for days. Whether you discovered her through epic fantasy trilogies like The Quickening and the Valisar series—with their lush world-building, magic systems, and sweeping political intrigue—or through her devastating historical fiction like The Lavender Keeper and The Pearl Thief, you know what McIntosh delivers: immersive storytelling, emotional depth, romance that feels earned, and that particular Australian gift for vivid, atmospheric prose.
McIntosh writes books you read in a single weekend because you can't put them down, then immediately recommend to everyone who'll listen. Her historical fiction captures wartime courage and sacrifice with devastating emotional impact. Her fantasy creates complete worlds with political complexity, magic that matters to the plot, and characters you genuinely care about. Both showcase her strength: building stories where personal relationships matter as much as world-shaking events.
If you've finished McIntosh's catalog and need your next immersive read, these fifteen authors understand the assignment. They write with similar scope, emotional resonance, and that quality that makes you forget you're holding a book.
Start here: Daughter of the Forest (Sevenwaters series) or Wildwood Dancing
Genre blend: Historical fantasy with Celtic/Irish mythology
Scope: Series and standalones
Juliet Marillier is essential reading for McIntosh fans who love the fantasy side of her work. Like McIntosh, Marillier is Australian, writes lush prose, and excels at weaving romance into epic stories without either element overwhelming the other. Her Sevenwaters series blends historical Ireland with Celtic mythology, following generations of one family through magical and political upheavals.
Daughter of the Forest retells "The Six Swans" fairytale with heartbreaking emotional depth. Sorcha must remain silent for years to save her enchanted brothers, enduring trauma and exile while falling in love with a man she can't speak to. Marillier doesn't flinch from darkness—there's assault, war, exile—but balances it with hope, healing, and the quiet courage of endurance.
What connects Marillier to McIntosh is the emotional authenticity. Both write characters who suffer genuinely, love deeply, and face impossible choices. Both create immersive historical-fantasy worlds grounded in real cultures. Both understand that magic works best when it costs something. The Sevenwaters series (six books) offers the same multigenerational saga feel as McIntosh's fantasy trilogies, with each book following different family members.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Celtic-inspired fantasy with devastating emotional impact and romance that makes you believe in love.
Start here: Outlander (first of nine published books)
Genre blend: Historical fiction with time travel romance
Scope: Massive ongoing series (1000+ pages per book)
If you love McIntosh's historical fiction—the wartime settings, the sweeping romances, the meticulous period detail—Outlander delivers that on an epic scale. Claire Randall, a WWII nurse, touches a standing stone in 1945 Scotland and lands in 1743, where she marries Highland warrior Jamie Fraser to survive and then actually falls in love.
Gabaldon writes doorstop novels packed with historical detail, passionate romance, adventure, and family drama. Like McIntosh's Lavender Keeper or Pearl Thief, these are stories where historical events shape personal lives, where love survives impossible circumstances, where women show remarkable courage. The research is meticulous—Gabaldon makes 18th century Scotland as vivid as McIntosh makes wartime France.
Fair warning: these are LONG books (800-1000+ pages each), and the series now spans nine novels with more coming. But if you want to be completely immersed in a world for months, if you loved how McIntosh's historical fiction combines romance with real historical stakes, Gabaldon offers that experience multiplied.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Epic historical romance with serious page count, meticulous research, and a love story that spans decades.
Start here: Bitter Greens (standalone) or The Wild Girl
Genre blend: Historical fiction with fairytale retellings
Scope: Mostly standalones and duologies
Kate Forsyth is another Australian author who writes exactly the kind of books McIntosh fans devour. She specializes in fairytale retellings woven through historical fiction—Bitter Greens tells the true story behind Rapunzel through three interconnected timelines in 17th century France and Italy.
Like McIntosh, Forsyth combines meticulous historical research with emotional storytelling and touches of magic or folklore. Her heroines face real historical constraints—women's limited options, court politics, religious persecution—while showing remarkable courage and resilience. The romance is present but never simplistic; her characters earn their happy endings through genuine growth and sacrifice.
Forsyth's standalones are perfect for readers who love McIntosh's historical fiction but want complete stories in single volumes. The Wild Girl explores the lives of the Grimm Brothers' informants, The Beast's Garden retells Beauty and the Beast in WWII Berlin. Each combines historical authenticity with fairytale magic and deeply felt romance.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Australian historical fiction with fairytale elements, strong women, and that perfect balance of research and magic.
Start here: The Winter Sea or Mariana
Genre blend: Dual timeline historical fiction with romance
Scope: Standalones and loose series
Susanna Kearsley writes the kind of books you read in one sitting because you physically cannot put them down. She specializes in dual-timeline narratives where modern women discover connections to the past—sometimes through inherited memory, sometimes through research, sometimes through psychometry (touching objects and seeing their history).
The Winter Sea follows a novelist researching 18th century Scotland who finds herself mysteriously writing scenes she shouldn't know, gradually realizing she's channeling her ancestor's memories. The historical thread involves Jacobite rebellion, forbidden romance, and impossible loyalty. The modern thread explores how the past shapes us.
What Kearsley shares with McIntosh is emotional resonance and atmospheric immersion. Both write romance that feels inevitable without being predictable. Both create historical settings so vivid you can feel the cold Scottish wind or smell lavender fields in France. Both understand that the best historical fiction makes you care about people, not just events.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Time-slip historical fiction where past and present intertwine, with atmospheric Scottish/European settings and romance across centuries.
Start here: Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, first of 16 books in interconnected series)
Genre blend: Epic fantasy with character focus
Scope: Multiple trilogies and quartets, all interconnected
For McIntosh fans who love her fantasy trilogies—The Quickening, the Valisar books, The Percheron series—Robin Hobb is absolutely essential. She writes character-driven epic fantasy with the same emotional depth and political complexity that makes McIntosh's fantasy so compelling.
The Realm of the Elderlings sequence (16 books across five series) follows FitzChivalry Farseer, royal bastard and assassin, through decades of political intrigue, magical threats, and devastating personal sacrifice. Hobb's magic system feels organic, her politics are complex, and her character work is unmatched—you'll love Fitz, be frustrated by his choices, and ultimately understand why he makes them.
What connects Hobb to McIntosh is the combination of epic scope with intimate emotional stakes. Both write fantasy where political machinations matter, where magic has costs, where love complicates everything. Both create worlds you can disappear into for weeks. Both understand that the best fantasy makes you feel things deeply, not just admire worldbuilding.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Character-driven epic fantasy with real emotional consequences, political intrigue, and magic that matters.
Start here: White Gardenia or Silver Wattle
Genre blend: Historical fiction, often Australian connections
Scope: Standalones and duologies
Belinda Alexandra is another Australian author writing sweeping historical fiction with strong emotional cores. White Gardenia follows Anya, a Russian woman who flees revolution to Shanghai and eventually Australia, spanning decades and continents with the kind of epic scope McIntosh's historical readers love.
Alexandra specializes in stories of displacement, resilience, and women building new lives after losing everything. Like McIntosh's Nightingale or Pearl Thief, these are stories where historical events force impossible choices, where love endures through separation and hardship, where courage means continuing when everything seems lost.
Her Australian settings provide unique perspective—many books follow European refugees building lives in Australia, or Australian women discovering their families' hidden European pasts. The research is thorough, the emotional arcs are satisfying, and the prose is lush without being purple.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Australian historical fiction with international scope, strong female protagonists, and multigenerational family sagas.
Start here: The Bronze Horseman (first of trilogy)
Genre blend: Historical fiction, wartime romance
Scope: Trilogy plus standalones
The Bronze Horseman is one of those books that splits readers into two camps: those who've read it and won't shut up about it, and those who haven't yet. It's WWII Leningrad during the siege—900 days of starvation, bombardment, and suffering—where Tatiana meets Alexander, and their love story unfolds against history's darkest backdrop.
This is for McIntosh fans who love the devastating emotional impact of books like The Lavender Keeper or The Tailor's Girl. Simons doesn't flinch from showing war's horror, but she balances it with a love story so intense it becomes mythic. The research is meticulous, the prose is emotional without being melodramatic, and you'll finish feeling like you survived something.
Fair warning: this is heavy. The siege was one of history's worst humanitarian disasters. But if you read historical fiction for emotional immersion, for love tested by impossible circumstances, for that combination of beauty and tragedy that makes McIntosh's WWII books so powerful, Simons delivers.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Epic wartime romance with devastating emotional impact and historical events that shape every choice.
Start here: The Forgotten Garden or The Secret Keeper
Genre blend: Dual timeline mystery/historical fiction
Scope: Standalones
Kate Morton writes addictive dual-timeline mysteries where family secrets span generations. Her books typically alternate between WWII-era (or earlier) and contemporary timelines, with modern characters uncovering their families' hidden pasts. The Forgotten Garden involves a mystery surrounding a girl found on an Australian dock in 1913, unraveling secrets involving Cornish estates and dark fairytales.
What Morton shares with McIntosh is the combination of historical atmosphere, family drama, and mystery that keeps you reading past bedtime. Both write lush prose that evokes place and time. Both create female characters navigating limited historical options with courage and ingenuity. Both understand that family secrets resonate across generations.
Morton's books are perfect for McIntosh's historical fiction fans who want that same immersive experience with added mystery elements. They're substantial (500+ pages), beautifully atmospheric, and structured to make you constantly turn "just one more page."
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Australian author writing dual-timeline family sagas with mysteries unfolding across generations.
Start here: Kushiel's Dart (first of Kushiel's Legacy series)
Genre blend: Epic fantasy with political intrigue and romance
Scope: Multiple trilogies in same world
Jacqueline Carey writes epic fantasy with the political complexity and romantic elements McIntosh's fantasy fans love. The Kushiel series is set in an alternate Renaissance Europe where religion, politics, and personal destiny intertwine. Phèdre nó Delaunay is trained as courtesan and spy, using both skills to navigate deadly political intrigue and prevent war.
Fair warning: these books contain explicit content and explore BDSM themes as part of the religion and culture. But beneath that is sophisticated political fantasy with genuine stakes, complex characters, and romance that drives plot rather than decorating it. Carey creates complete worlds with detailed cultures, religions, and political systems—similar to McIntosh's Percheron series' complexity.
The series (nine books across three trilogies) offers the same epic scope and emotional investment as McIntosh's fantasy work. Carey writes beautiful prose, creates believable political machinations, and balances intimate character moments with world-shaking events.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Adult epic fantasy with political intrigue, complex romance, and lush worldbuilding. (Content warning: explicit sexual content)
Start here: Here Be Dragons (Welsh Princes trilogy) or The Sunne in Splendour
Genre blend: Historical fiction, medieval England and Wales
Scope: Standalone novels and series, all substantial
Sharon Kay Penman writes epic medieval historical fiction with the scope and detail McIntosh brings to her historical novels. Here Be Dragons covers 13th century Wales and England through multiple royal perspectives, spanning decades and showing how personal relationships shape political history.
Penman's novels are long (700+ pages), meticulously researched, and character-driven despite their epic scope. She writes political intrigue, complex family dynamics, and romance within historical constraints with the same balance McIntosh achieves. Her characters feel real—flawed, complicated, making impossible choices in impossible circumstances.
These are books you live in for weeks. Penman makes medieval politics accessible and engaging, creates vivid historical atmosphere, and writes female characters with agency despite historical limitations. Perfect for McIntosh readers who want substantial historical fiction that takes its time building complex narratives.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Epic medieval historical fiction with political intrigue, family drama, and seriously immersive scope.
Start here: The Ancient Future (first of trilogy)
Genre blend: Time travel fantasy with historical settings
Scope: Multiple series
Traci Harding is yet another Australian author writing the kind of immersive fantasy-historical blends McIntosh fans love. The Ancient Future sends a modern martial artist back to 6th century Britain, where she becomes involved with Arthurian legend, druid mysteries, and political intrigue.
Harding writes fast-paced adventure with romance, reincarnation themes, and New Age spirituality woven through historical settings. Her books are lighter in tone than McIntosh's more serious historical fiction but share the same page-turning quality and emotional investment. The Ancient Future series (three books) mixes time travel, Celtic mythology, and romance in ways that appeal to readers who enjoyed McIntosh's genre-blending.
Her later Celestial Triad series expands into science fiction-fantasy fusion. All her work shares enthusiasm for big ideas, passionate relationships, and adventures across time and space.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Australian time-travel fantasy with Celtic history, reincarnation themes, and lighter adventure tone.
Start here: The Ill-Made Mute (Bitterbynde Trilogy)
Genre blend: Lyrical high fantasy with Celtic folklore
Scope: Trilogy plus additional series
Cecilia Dart-Thornton writes lush, lyrical fantasy heavily influenced by Celtic and British folklore. The Bitterbynde Trilogy follows a mute, disfigured protagonist seeking identity and healing in a world where the Faêran (fae folk) are dangerous and magic is everywhere. Dart-Thornton's prose is deliberately archaic and ornate—some readers love it, others find it too dense.
What connects her to McIntosh is the commitment to creating completely immersive fantasy worlds with their own cultures, magic systems, and histories. Both write fantasy that feels mythic, where destiny and choice intertwine, where love matters as much as magic. Dart-Thornton's world is darker and stranger than McIntosh's fantasies, but equally detailed and emotionally resonant.
These books require patience—the prose is rich and slow-moving, rewarding readers who want to savor language and immerse completely. Perfect for McIntosh fantasy fans who love the Percheron series' lush detail and mythic feel.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Lyrical high fantasy with Celtic folklore, immersive worldbuilding, and literary prose.
Start here: Into the Wilderness (Wilderness series)
Genre blend: Historical fiction, American frontier romance
Scope: Six-book series
Sara Donati's Wilderness series begins in 1792 upstate New York, where Elizabeth Middleton, a spinster from England, meets Nathaniel Bonner, a frontiersman of mixed European and Mohawk heritage. What follows is six books spanning decades, following multiple generations through American frontier history, war, and social change.
Donati writes epic family sagas with meticulous historical research, complex characters, and romance that develops alongside adventure and political events. Like McIntosh's historical fiction, these books balance personal stories with historical sweep, showing how major events (War of 1812, westward expansion) affect individual lives.
The series is long (each book is 500-700 pages) and detailed, perfect for readers who want to completely inhabit a historical world. The romance is central but not simplistic—these are marriages tested by loss, separation, and historical forces beyond individual control.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Multigenerational American historical saga with romance, adventure, and serious scope.
Start here: The Other Boleyn Girl or The White Queen (first of Cousins' War series)
Genre blend: Historical fiction, Tudor and medieval England
Scope: Multiple series and standalones
Philippa Gregory has made a career writing English royal history from women's perspectives. Her books cover the Tudors, the Wars of the Roses, and the Plantagenets, always centering female characters often sidelined in traditional histories. The Other Boleyn Girl tells Anne Boleyn's story through her sister Mary's eyes, exploring ambition, survival, and the dangerous game of Tudor court politics.
Gregory's research is solid (though she takes liberties for dramatic effect), her pacing is excellent, and she writes female characters navigating limited historical power with intelligence and determination. Like McIntosh, she makes historical figures feel human and relatable while showing how historical constraints shaped women's choices.
Her books work as standalones but connect across series, allowing readers to follow royal lines across generations. Perfect for McIntosh readers who love historical fiction focused on women's experiences and political intrigue.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: English royal history from female perspectives, court intrigue, and accessible historical fiction.
Start here: The Greatest Knight (William Marshal duology) or Lady of the English
Genre blend: Medieval historical fiction
Scope: Standalones and duologies
Elizabeth Chadwick writes meticulously researched medieval historical fiction, often focusing on lesser-known figures who played crucial roles in English history. The William Marshal books follow the "greatest knight who ever lived" from landless younger son to Earl and regent, spanning decades of medieval politics, Crusades, and personal drama.
Chadwick's research is exceptional—she's known for historical accuracy while maintaining compelling narratives. Like McIntosh, she balances political intrigue with personal relationships, showing how love and loyalty shape historical events. Her female characters are particularly well-drawn, showing agency within historical constraints.
These are substantial books (400-600 pages) that immerse you completely in medieval life—the castles, the politics, the warfare, the daily textures of living in that era. Perfect for McIntosh readers who want historical fiction that educates while entertaining.
Perfect for McIntosh fans who want: Meticulously researched medieval historical fiction with political intrigue and strong characterization.
Fiona McIntosh fans read for immersion—you want to disappear into a world for days, feel emotions deeply, and emerge from books feeling like you've lived another life. Here's how to choose based on what you're craving:
For more Australian authors with similar sensibilities:
Juliet Marillier (historical fantasy), Kate Forsyth (fairytale historical fiction), Belinda Alexandra (sweeping historical sagas), Kate Morton (dual timeline mysteries), Traci Harding (time travel fantasy), Cecilia Dart-Thornton (lyrical fantasy)
For epic fantasy like McIntosh's Quickening/Valisar/Percheron series:
Robin Hobb (character-driven), Juliet Marillier (Celtic-influenced), Jacqueline Carey (political intrigue), Cecilia Dart-Thornton (lyrical high fantasy)
For WWII historical fiction like Lavender Keeper/Pearl Thief:
Paullina Simons (wartime romance), Kate Forsyth (WWII fairytales), Belinda Alexandra (war and displacement)
For sweeping multigenerational sagas:
Diana Gabaldon (massive scope), Sara Donati (American frontier), Kate Morton (family secrets), Belinda Alexandra (Australian connections), Sharon Kay Penman (medieval dynasties)
For dual timeline historical fiction:
Susanna Kearsley (time-slip romance), Kate Morton (family mysteries)
For medieval historical fiction:
Sharon Kay Penman (epic scope), Elizabeth Chadwick (meticulous research), Philippa Gregory (royal intrigue)
For historical fiction with romance central to plot:
Diana Gabaldon, Paullina Simons, Sara Donati, Susanna Kearsley
For fairytale retellings with historical settings:
Kate Forsyth, Juliet Marillier
Fiona McIntosh writes books that balance multiple elements perfectly: epic scope without losing human scale, romance that enhances rather than overwhelms the story, historical or fantastical settings that feel completely real, and emotional depth that makes you care intensely about outcomes. She writes both fantasy and historical fiction with equal skill, understanding that what makes either genre work is the same: immersive worldbuilding, authentic characters, and emotional stakes.
The authors on this list share these gifts. They write books you can sink into, worlds that feel complete, characters who matter. Whether fantasy or historical fiction, they understand that readers come for escapism but stay for emotional truth. They balance adventure with relationships, political intrigue with personal drama, historical authenticity with compelling narratives.
These are books for long afternoons, for rainy weekends, for times when you want to forget your life and live someone else's for a while. They're substantial enough to satisfy, emotionally resonant enough to remember, and well-crafted enough to recommend without hesitation.
Fiona McIntosh has built her reputation on giving readers exactly what they want: complete immersion in beautifully crafted worlds, whether those worlds are fantasy kingdoms or historical Europe. These authors understand the same covenant with readers—they promise you'll emerge from their books satisfied, moved, and already looking for the next one.
Happy reading, and may your TBR list never run dry.
