12 Page-Turning Penny Vincenzi Books from the “Doyenne of the Modern Blockbuster”

Packed with “twists, trysts, and thrills,” Penny Vincenzi’s eighth novel is a “deft, swift contemporary epic” (Publishers Weekly) that is “deliciously readable” (Daily Mail). Tom and Octavia Fleming have a seemingly perfect marriage. But when Octavia discovers that Tom is having an affair, the cracks in this “power couple” begin to show—and nothing can prepare either of them for the wrath of a woman scorned when he tries to break things off with his mistress.

“Vincenzi does an admirable job of evoking the bustle and fears of wartime England” (Booklist) in this “engrossing family drama” (Glamour) set against the backdrop of World War II. As Grace attempts to settle into a new life with her wealthy husband, she finds herself haunted by family secrets and a mysterious past that may be difficult to leave behind in a book that offers “satisfaction guaranteed,” according to the Washington Post Book World.

Wealthy and volatile real estate mogul Bard Channing is asking his much younger wife Francesca to do something for him. Something simple. All she has to do is tell a lie, say that he was in one place when he was in another. The question is: Will she do it? And, given how Channing has treated her, should she? That’s the delicious conflict at the heart of this early book which already “categorically establishes Vincenzi’s mastery of intricate plots” (Booklist).

Readers are first introduced to one of Penny Vincenzi’s most memorable characters in No Angel, which kicks off the Spoils of Time trilogy, chronicling the Lytton family. Celia Lytton is the daughter of aristocrats, and in this book “packed with passion, pain, pace and palaver” (Daily Mail) she embarks upon “plots captivating enough to keep readers eyes’ glued to this long and hearty saga” (Publishers Weekly) for the first time, in a story continued in two further novels.

“Vincenzi continues the lush multigenerational and transatlantic family saga she began in the bestselling No Angel” (Booklist) in this follow-up. Twins Adele and Venetia are born into the Lytton publishing empire, inheriting great wealth and privilege. But their world darkens in unexpected ways as Nazi Germany consolidates its power.

In the third and final book in the Lytton family saga that began with No Angel, readers will see how Vincenzi brings it all together. In this “page-turner” (Publishers Weekly), Vincenzi brings her unique brand of soap opera plotting with “well-drawn characters and engaging style” (People) to the story of a publishing empire and a well-to-do English family that are both rocked by the widowed matriarch’s decision to remarry in the aftermath of World War II.

“Vincenzi’s lengthy epics satisfy like a box of decadent, luscious chocolates” (Booklist), and Another Woman is no exception, as “a runaway bride leaves behind a thicket of family secrets and betrayals” (Kirkus Reviews) in this international bestseller. On the eve of Cressida Forrest’s wedding, everything seems perfect—until the bride doesn’t show up on her special day. As her family and would-be in-laws attempt to unravel the mystery of her disappearance, they find many more secrets than they bargained for.

Moving from wartime Suffolk to 1950s Hollywood, from Madison Avenue to London theaters, this “thoroughly enjoyable family saga with glamour, romance and drama to spare” (Bookreporter) draws together the unseen web connecting a family's experience with a tragic accident and a sudden suicide, to a mystery that brings “plenty of heat and intrigue” (Publishers Weekly).

“Superbly blending the past with the present, the author not only writes a truly solid soap opera but takes an in-depth look at the world of cosmetics, advertising, and business” (Library Journal) in this story of the House of Farrell, a prestigious skincare company being left behind by the times, and the clash of personalities that will either define its future—or bring it crashing down once and for all.

Penny Vincenzi’s second novel is hailed by Booklist as “Dynasty meets Downton Abbey,” with its tale of the trials, tribulations, trysts, and triumphs of a family whose wealth is built on American banking and British aristocracy. It’s the perfect introduction to Vincenzi’s “fast-paced novels with plots and subplots so deftly manipulated that it’s impossible to start reading one and still lead a productive life” (Washington Post).

“Once again, Vincenzi delivers grade-A entertainment” in this story of a seemingly sensible woman whose life is upended by an unexpected inheritance, thrusting her into a tale that is “fast-paced, well-written and full of sex” (Publishers Weekly). Set against the backdrop of enormous class disparities in 1930s London, Cassie Tallow is trained as a doctor but married to a man who prevents her from ministering to the downtrodden. When she receives an enormous windfall from her glamorous godmother, her life is turned upside down—but is it for the better or the worse?

An ambitious man risks everything—including his career and his marriage—by embarking on a tumultuous affair with a beautiful and unhappily married fashion model in this unforgettable book with a “rich cast of characters buffeted by love, betrayal and loyalty, glamour and conflict” that represents “Vincenzi at her best” (Woman & Home). It was also the last of her novels published before her death in 2018.