Historical romance

The romance novel or romantic novel is a literary genre. Novels of this type of genre fiction place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."[1] There are many subgenres of the romance novel including fantasy, historical, science fiction and paranormal. Some scholars see precursors to the genre fiction romance novels in literary fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Samuel Richardson's sentimental novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and the novels of Jane Austen.[2] Austen inspired Georgette Heyer, the British author of historical romance set around the time Austen lived, as well as detective fiction. Heyer's first romance novel The Black Moth, set in 1751, was published in 1921. The British company Mills and Boon began releasing escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. Their books were sold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry the books.

Recommended Reading

Books you'll love

Latest Releases

Published in the last 90 days

Featured Author

Image

Elizabeth A. Fenn

“Pierre de la Vérendrye and his companions had encountered a people blessed with material abundance. “Corn, meat, fat, dressed robes, and bearskins” were all among their riches. “They are well supplied with these things,” the Frenchman wrote. But his abbreviated journal barely mentions the villagers’ equally rich ceremonial life.1”

More about Elizabeth A. Fenn


Coming Soon

Popular Titles

Most viewed Fiction books this week

Open the Book

Image

Fates and Furies

Lauren Groff

Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the...

Open the Book

Image

You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine

Alexandra Kleeman

A woman known only as A lives in an unnamed American city with her roommate, B, and boyfriend, C, wh...

Open the Book

Image

The Story of the Lost Child

Elena Ferrante

Rebecca (Mercedes Ruehl) was adopted as a child and begins to wonder about her past after her mother...