Historical Designations: Genres, Time Periods & Locations
At AAR we classify historical romances using the following broad designations in our reviews for Book Type.
Locale Setting & Time Setting narrow things down and are used in conjunction. Time Settings are as narrow as we can make them - ie, Early 1700s would be 1701 - 1710, 1710s would be 1710 - 1719, and so on. If we can't narrow it down to a decade, we'll add a King's reign - ie, King John. Exceptions will be short periods of English history, such as English Civil War, Restoration, and Regency. Therefore, if you were looking for all historicals during the Renaissance, you would search on Book Type = Renaissance. If you were interested in simply the Elizabethan period, instead of searching on Book Type = Renaissance, you would search on Time Setting = Elizabethan.
| Historical Romance |
An historical romance that doesn't fit any of the historical designations below or crosses more than two time periods or countries/parts of the world and/or is set or partially set on the High Seas or other oceans at any point in history |
| Dark Ages |
402 - 937 (Dark Ages excludes Viking Romances, which have their own Book Type) |
| Medieval |
938 - 1485 (Medieval excludes Viking Romances, which have their own Book Type) |
| Renaissance |
1485 - 1603
Tudor: 1485 - 1558 (if set in England)
Elizabethan: 1558 - 1603 (if set in England)
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| Stuart |
1603 - 1714
English Civil War/Interregnum: (1642 - 1660)
Restoration: (1660 - 1685) |
| European Historical |
1714 - 1914
| If set in England:
|
Georgian: 1714 - 1810
Regency: 1811 - 1820
Victorian: 1832 - 1901 (though Victoria's reign didn't begin until 1837, the Reform Act of 1832 starts the era)
Edwardian: 1901 - 1914 |
|
| Regency |
Traditional Regency Romances - generally set in the Regency era, but some are set in the late Georgian period (we'll let you know if they do). |
| Colonial U.S. |
1630 - 1789 |
| American Historical |
1790 - 1900 |
| Civil War/Reconstruction |
1861 - 1880 in South |
| Frontier/Western |
Historical westerns and frontier-set historicals in the U.S., Canada, and even Australia |
| Indian |
Frontier/Western Historical Romances featuring one Native American lead or where Native American heritage is integral to the story |
| Americana |
1880s - 1920s primarily, with a small town or mid-Western feel |
| Turn of the Century |
1890 - 1914 |
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