Return of the Stranger - at a bargain price on Kindle

Yesterday on Facebook  Ali Williams  who is both a romance editor and academic writer  was asking about romance novels based on classic romantic fiction and Michelle Styles was kind enough to Laura Vivanco on Teach Me Tonight - a talk at the Haworth Festival of Women's Writing (speaking in a schoolroom where Charlotte Bronte herself had taught) and the Bronte Parsonage Museum put a copy of The Return of the Stranger permanently in their library amongst the fiction inspired by the Bronte sisters' writings.

mention the mini series 'The Powerful and The Pure' which was brought out in 2011 (was it really that long ago!) in which several Modern Romance/Harlequin Presents authors created romance novels to 'Modernise' some fabulous classic novels - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Emma. My own contribution to this series was a reworking of Wuthering Heights (chosen for me because I'd written my MA thesis on the childhood writings of Charlotte and Emily Bronte) It was a fascinating experience and led to some interesting results - an interview with

Because of this several people wrote to enquire about the book and I had to go hunting to see where they could find a copy. As a result, I discovered that Return of The Stranger is currently on sale on kindle for only £0.99p.   (Not sure if this is the same on Amazon.com as it's not showing kindle details for me there)

So if you're interested or you have been looking for a copy of this novel - now's the time to grab a bargain! I've sent the only re

maining paperback copy I had on its way to Ali, so I think this is the best way to get hold of it now.

And if you're interested in  any of the posts I write about  this book and the talks in Haworth etc  back in 2011 when it was first published - put Return of The Stranger or Wuthering Heights  into the search box and they should come up.

For Love and Money

I've often complained about books /reviewers/critics  who dismiss romance novels  in derogatory terms without ever opening a single  copy of one. So it was a great delight - and an early Christmas present to be sent a copy of a new academic book that  discusses the real nature and appeal of these novels - and is written by someone  who has read and studied many romances by many different authors in her research and preparation for this book.

I first met Laura Vivanco through the Teach Me Tonight site which always has fascinating discussions about the romance genre and you may remember that she ran an interview with me when I first had The Return of The Stranger published - discussing the way that I had worked on it with Wuthering Heights as my inspiration and the  changes, adaptations I had had to make in order to make that  classic  novel conform to the conventions of a short romance.

Now Laura has produced her own book, a study of the popular romances of Harlequin Mills and Boon  - and this time the observations and comments  in this study are based on sound opinions formed from extensive reading and knowledge of the romance novel form, its varying types. its history, and its  many authors.  

For Love and Money is a study of romance that challenges the stereotypical perception that Harlequin Mills & Boonromances are merely mass-produced commodities churned out in accordance with a strict and unchanging formula. Laura very kindly let me see a pre publication edition of this book and I found it absorbing and fascinating - with none of the teeth gritting fury that  critical works on romance so often induce. The novels are actually read as individual works, not  just pale copes of each other, each adding something  to the development of the genre that while it may move and change slowly and not very dramatically is constantly changign and adapting to the society and times in which it is written.

  And as Liz Fielding says, this is' an impressive study of the popular fiction of Harlequin  Mills & Boon that is a must read for any student of popular fiction and for those who write and love the genre.'

It was a fascinating read - and an interesti8ng opportunity for me to go back to my student days and look at the books from the 'other side' so to speak - that of studying them analytically rather than writing them creatively.

You can read more about For  Love and Money on on Liz Fielding's Blog  where Laura has given an interview  or on the Pink Heart Society site where she talks about 'Formulaic Cookie-Cutter Books' which - being Laura - she refutes that romance novels really are.

At last - a critical work on romance that I can recommend as a balanced, knowledgeable and informed read!