Christine Sparks books in order

Christine Sparks (Christine Fiorotto, née Sparks, 1942-2026) was a British romance novelist who wrote more than 100 books for Mills & Boon and Silhouette, mainly as Lucy Gordon. She was born in England on 20 September 1942 and died on 10 May 2026 after a long illness.

Before writing fiction she worked on a British women's magazine. She married Robert, a Venetian she met at the Murano glass works; they lived in Italy and later in Northamptonshire, and he died in 2016. Her first novel, Legacy of Fire (1984), was written for Silhouette Special Edition, and her agent, Caroline Montgomery, believes she was the first British author in that line. She went on to publish 103 titles with Mills & Boon across several lines, writing also as Penelope Stratton and under her own name. She won two RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America, for Song of the Lorelei and for His Brother's Child (1998), and was a RITA finalist for For the Love of Emma (1997) and Gino's Arranged Bride (2005).

For collectors

Her early Silhouette Special Edition titles from 1984, beginning with Legacy of Fire, and the RITA-winning Song of the Lorelei and His Brother's Child are the natural core of a collection of her work.