ABSTRACT

This study to analyzes romantic fiction's depiction of women as part of the broader history of ideas about women.; Given the success of the Mills & Boon romance, their portrayal of subjects like sex, love, marriage, class, motherhood and femineity are important cultural barometers and make interesting study.; The author shows how all these themes have an historical trajectory and how these novels have come to reflect feminist concerns.; Based on a study of over 1000 Mills & Boon romances the book provides analysis of plot types and shows how these have changed in response to women's own changing position within society.

chapter Chapter Two|16 pages

Reader, Author, Editor – Many hours of pleasant reading

chapter Chapter Three|20 pages

1910s – Society and Exotic, City and Country

chapter Chapter Four|18 pages

Hero – You brought me to life

chapter Chapter Five|16 pages

Heroine – Mirror Image

chapter Chapter Six|16 pages

War and Aftermath – You give me redemption

chapter Chapter Eight|22 pages

Sex – We got all the damned foreplay over with months ago

chapter Chapter Nine|24 pages

Love and Marriage – Harbour of desire

chapter Chapter Ten|18 pages

Feminism – I'm not a feminist, but …