The Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel.
- The Clan of the Cave Bear
- The Valley of Horses
- The Mammoth Hunters
- The Plains of Passage
- The Shelters of Stone
- The Land of Painted Caves
I admit that I've only read the first four but they were excellent.
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The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
- Hyperion
- The Fall of Hyperion
- Endymion
- The Rise of Endymion
It's science fiction but it's very dream-like, with close ties to Keats and the Canterbury Tales.
And, uh, so looking it up so that I'd get all the book titles right, I just found out that it's going to be an 'event series' on Syfy.
Bradley Cooper has wanted to adapt Hyperion for many years; some time ago he even lobbied to get the gig writing the script. Now he, along with Graham King and Todd Phillips, is producing a Hyperion TV series for Syfy.
THR reports that Syfy is working with the three producers to adapt the novel(s) into event series form, with Itamar Moses (Boardwalk Empire) writing and acting as co-exec producer. http://www.slashfilm.com/hyperion-tv-series/
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If they want more sexy, they could go with Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. I got tired of the series after awhile, to be honest, but the first books were good. The main character is kind of like a courtesan secret agent.
The book follows Phèdre nó Delaunay's life from birth. She's born with a mote in her eye, which makes her appear inappropriate for service as a religious courtesan, but it is revealed that this is actually a sign that she is an 'anguissette' or sexual masochist, deriving sexual pleasure from pain. Her bond is purchased by a nobleman who does train her as a courtesan, and discovers a plot against her homeland which she has a chance to interrupt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushiel%27s_Dart
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I'd love to see something made from The Observations by Jane Harris. I loved it. Set in the Victorian era, it's about a 15 year old Irish girl who is on her own and running from a difficult life. She lands a job at a run-down estate as a maid to a kind yet odd young mistress who has her write a diary after her chores are done. Despite not quite understanding why the lady of the house is paying so much attention to a maid, she comes to adore her employers. As time passes, however, she learns to her dismay that everything isn't quite as it seems. She also learns that the maid there before her died and that no one wants to talk about what happened.
Bessy is a really interesting character. She's already seen the worst in life, so she is cynical, but she is still vulnerable to kind words and attention. Everything that happens in the story affects her deeply.
