Kathleen Winsor Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Kathleen Winsor was an American literary fiction novelist that made her name with the publishing of the blockbuster novel “Forever Amber.”

In fact, her novel is believed to have paved the way for the modern blockbuster novel that has become ubiquitous in the modern day.

The author was born in Olivia, Minnesota in October 1919 and was the daughter of Myrtle Belle Winsor and Harold Lee.

As a child, Kathleen spent most of her childhood in California in the United States. In 1938 the author went to the University of California, Berkeley from where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Upon graduating from college, Kathleen Winsor got a job at the “Oakland Tribune,” in 1937 where she published a three-times-a-week sports column.

She would go on to work for at least a year with the Tribune and during this time, she also worked at the publication’s offices as a receptionist.

In 1938, her employer embarked on a downsizing spree and unfortunately, she was among the employees that were cut from the payroll. However, Kathleen has always believed that she was born to write a bestselling title ever since she was young.
While her husband was overseas serving in World War II, she began writing her debut novel. After doing a lot of research, she would soon become properly acquainted with the Restoration period in England.

This would then result in the writing and publishing of an epic romance tale that featured Amber St. Claire the passionate, individualistic, and spunky heroine.

The manuscript got Macmillan to offer her a $50,000 advance, even if the work was censored in more than a dozen states for being too risque. Still, that did not prevent the novel from becoming one of the most popular fiction works of its time.

When Kathleen Winsor penned her bestselling title, she was a first-time novelist who has spent more than half a decade researching her work. Robert John Herwig her first husband was then serving in the Marines in the Pacific Theater.
She has asserted that she read more than 350 works set in Restoration England including the “Great Fire of London,” the plague of the 17th century, and the reign of Charles II.

Amber St. Clare the lead protagonist won the hearts of readers for her survival skills, her sexual prowess, and feisty resilience.
Many reviewers praised the relevance of the story as they compared the character’s fortitude during the fire and plague with that of the women that held home and hearth together, during the devastating bombing raids of the Second World War.
For the critics, the work was trivial and vulgar even though it never slowed down its sales. Unfortunately, while her debut novel was a blockbuster, several novels that followed were not that successful.

“Forever Amber” by Kathleen Winsor introduces Amber St. Clare, a 16-year-old who is abandoned penniless and pregnant on the streets of London.

Defying all odds, she makes use of her courage, beauty, and wits to climb to the highest ranks of Restoration England, as she becomes Charles II’s mistress.

From noblemen to courtiers and highwaymen, from events such as the Fire of London and the Great Plague to the extraordinary women and men and the intimate passion of everyday people, there is nothing that Amber does not experience.
But throughout her escapades and trials, in her heart, she is still true to the one man she can never have, the man she really loves.

The work has often been compared with “Gone with the Wind,” another monumental historical work as it outsold most other American novels that came out in the 1940s.

It was a work that people read and reread for the unforgettable romance that made it a timeless masterpiece.

Kathleen Winsor’s novel “Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West,” is a work set in 1861.
The lead is Matt Devlin who is embarking on a new life in Montana alongside Joshua Ching his brother-in-law from New York. He is on the pathway to making his fortune through the financial downfall and manipulation of others.
Devlin, his brother Peter and their partners, and ultimately his sons get into the ground floor of the mining boom of the Rockies in Montana. They first get into gold, then silver before digging deep in the mountains searching for copper.
The early towns die and grow even though Butte the one town believed to be dead and buried has recently been changing and growing just like its landscape.

On the other side of the continent, Jason has been growing very wealthy and he has become one of the rich in New York and has even married into one of the old families in the city that has fallen on hard times.
The characters have to deal with depression and financial disasters even as they bring up their children.

The story also comes with a lot of scandalous mistresses and actresses, roaring mining towns, extramarital affairs, railroad barons, and sneaky stock dealings.

“Calais,” by Kathleen Winsor tells the story of Arlette Morgan an actress who rose to fortune and fame starting in the 1940s.

She became an orphan when she was five and Winsor does an exploration of how her character is influenced and shaped by the choices she makes in life. Arlette has the belief that if she had not lost her parents she would never have become an actress.

Even though her sense of mortality pushes her to become successful early on, her acting career makes it possible for her to live in another dimension. Her many affairs might have something to do with her need to live a full life.
Winsor is great at the exploration of female rivalry as she has a lot of fun with the many tropes inherent in this type of fiction.

There are college friends fighting for one part, a showdown between an understudy fast becoming a star and an ambitious ingenue.

The lead character sleeps with her directors, the leading men, and anyone she finds appealing enough even though she never uses her relationships to advance herself.