Emma Brown by Clare Boylan and The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer

I loved both these books because of the pure escapism they provided. Emma
Brown, which is based on an unfinished novel by Charlotte Bronte, is set in
Victorian England, and The Snow Fox takes the reader into the samurai
culture of medieval Japan. Both authors adopted narrative voices appropriate
to the era in which the novel was set. Clare Boylan seamlessly picked up
where the first few chapters of Bronte's work left off, and Susan Fromberg
Schaeffer's narration is reminiscent of the Tale of Genji. The two disparate
cultures are both characterized by an elegant, refined facade with a strict
and prescriptive etiquette under which lurk all manner of unsavoury things.
However, the unsavoury elements are handled in the discreet, oblique manner
in which they would have been referred to during the eras in which each
novel is set, so the result is two novels that deal with quite unpleasant
topics in a way that is not at all disturbing to even a slightly squeamish
adult reader. (The only reason I'm not mentioning what the unpleasant
topics are is because they don't come up right away, so it would be a bit of
a spoiler).

The only thing that does require a bit of a warning is that the cover of The
Snow Fox features a painting of full rear-view female nudity, so you might
not want to read it in public. However, I highly recommend both novels, and
will likely be reading them both again.