2

The term "romance" is also applied to novels defined by Walter Scott as "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvelous and uncommon incidents."[3][4] Related to this type of romance novel are works that "involves a mysterious, adventurous, or spiritual story line where the focus is on a quest that involves bravery and strong values, not always a love interest".[2] These romances frequently, but not exclusively, takes the form of the historical novel. Scott's novels are also frequently described as historical romances,[5] and Northrop Frye suggested "the general principle that most 'historical novels' are romances".[6]

A thriving genre of works conventionally referred to as "romance novels" existed in ancient Greece.[7] Other precursors can be found in the 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. Austen inspired Georgette Heyer, the British author of historical romance set around the time Austen lived,[8] as well as detective fiction. Heyer's first romance novel, The Black Moth (1921), was set in 1751.

The British company Mills & Boon began releasing romance novels for women in the 1930s. Their books were sold in North America by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd,[9] which began direct marketing to readers and allowing mass-market merchandisers to carry the books.

An early American example of a mass-market romance was Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' The Flame and the Flower (1972), published by Avon Books. This was the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback in the US, though in the UK the romance genre was long established through the works of Georgette Heyer, and from the 1950s Catherine Cookson, as well as others.[citation needed] Nancy Coffey was the senior editor who negotiated a multi-book deal with Woodiwiss. The genre boomed in the 1980s, with the addition of many different categories of romance and an increased number of single-title romances, but popular authors started pushing the boundaries of both the genre and plot, as well as creating more contemporary characters.

Women will pick up a romance novel knowing what to expect, and this foreknowledge of the reader is very important. When the hero and heroine meet and fall in love, maybe they don't know they're in love but the reader does. Then a conflict will draw them apart, but you know in the end they'll be back together, and preferably married or planning to be by page 192.

— Joan Schulhafer of Pocket Books, 1982[10]

One definition of the word "romance" is: "the feelings and behavior of two people who are in a loving and sexual relationship with each other."[11]

According to the Romance Writers of America, the main plot of a mass-market romance novel must revolve about the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplots that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."

Others, including Leslie Gelbman, a president of Berkley Books, define the genre more simply, stating only that a romance must make the "romantic relationship between the hero and the heroine ... the core of the book."[12] In general, romance novels reward characters who are good people and penalize those who are evil, and a couple who fights for and believes in their relationship will likely be rewarded with unconditional love.[1] Bestselling author Nora Roberts sums up the genre, saying: "The books are about the celebration of falling in love and emotion and commitment, and all of those things we really want."[13] Women's fiction (including "chick lit") is not directly a subcategory of the romance novel genre, because in women's fiction the heroine's relationship with her family or friends may be as important as her relationship with the hero.[12]

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