To readers of this story I heartily recommend Kristin Lavransdatter, a book I only discovered a couple years ago and LOVED LOVED LOVED. I had tears running down my face in the bus as I read the final chapter of that book, I got SO invested in the characters, and felt like I lived a whole lifetime with them. And such an incredible and fraught love story (or love stories really).

I have no idea if there is a good English translation out there, but I also just read for the first time the Accursed Kings (Les Rois maudits) series in the original French. George RR Martin was inspired by it and called it "the original Game of Thrones". I loved that one too, but there's a lot more politicking and assassinations than love stories in that one.