The Alpennia books by Heather Rose Jones are everything I wanted when I was a teenager and I’m so happy they exist now–19th century costume drama fantasy taking place in a tiny imaginary country near France, Switzerland, and Italy, starring a bunch of lesbians who do magic or swordfight and also featuring bi women and a trans guy. The books are full of political intrigue, pretty clothing, all types of relationships between women from romantic to friendship to rival princesses.
In the first book, Daughter of Mystery (review), a young mystic is forced into close proximity with her godfather’s crossdressing bodyguard girl when he leaves his entire fortune to her on condition that she retains the bodyguard as her own until they both reach the age of majority. That’s them in the top pic. By the third book, the mystic has literally founded a women’s college.
The second book, The Mystic Marriage (review) is about a middle-aged social butterfly who falls for a young demisexual alchemist (in purple.) This is a story of wildly contrasting personalities coming together while creating magic rocks, and introduces Sephardic Jews, a trans man, and a woman whose parents are from Ethiopia into the cast, all of whom also appear in the next book too.
Mother of Souls is the third book, focusing on both the above couples plus detailing new adventures of the Ethiopian-Italian woman who has a few relationships with other bi women while trying to navigate the complex worlds of both magic and Alpennian society. I can’t wait until she finds her permanent female partner in a future book (according to the author) so that I can hire art of her and that woman together to add to this art series.
Each book features a different threat to Alpennian national safety, and truth and light and rescue can only come from sapphics with magical powers (which we already knew, right?)
They’re a little pricey, but thoroughly worth it. If you can afford to get all three at the same time, the publisher @bellabooks has the eBook bundle for $23.95. Otherwise, here they are on Amazon; if you’d rather try the library, my local branch has had very good luck getting them after I fill out a request form, and if yours isn’t, consider borrowing them through interlibrary loan (ILL)–look at all the libraries that have the first book, for example. This is the series. They are fabulous books, each one long and complete and thorough and full of women in love, and I’d really like to help spread the word about them because I know far more people are looking for magical lesbians (and lesbians with swords) than have found them–so reblogs are appreciated.
Artwork above by @aroaessidhe on commission.
These books are AMAZING and are my absolute favorite PLEASE READ THEM
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