Hello everyone! Im so glad to be your host for the week! Today, I want to talk about war and conflict in historical romance. Since I write historicals set in the early 20th century, I run into two major wars--the Boer War and World War One. Though the Boer War wasnt as *extremely* transformative as WWI, it still took hundreds of thousands of young British men far away from home and forced many of their mothers, sisters, fiancees, and friends out of their pampered lives to nurse, sew and knit for the troops, follow casualty lists in newspapers, and experience the transformative powers of war. Many of these aristocratic women experienced much adventure during both wars--Lady Sarah Churchill, for example, the aunt of Winston Churchill, was captured by the Boers! And as you saw with S2 of Downton Abbey, Lady Sybil braving familial disapproval to become a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) was something many, many well-bred young women faced between 1914-1918. Many of us have lived against the backdrop of war throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and I see some parallels between our love for Navy SEALs and Black Ops romance heroes and the sailor and soldier heroes of the past. Also, since I come from a military family, I was raised to admire the core beliefs of honor, duty, sacrifice, and courage, even though I am definitely not military material, LOL. But because of this, I tend to gravitate towards writing and reading romances set during harrowing times because it pushes characters out of their drawing rooms and parlours--especially the heroines--and is a sort of trial by fire that forces growth. A few of my favorite historical romances set during or immediately after times of conflict are One Night for Love by Mary Balogh, Red Red Rose by Marjorie Farrell, The Hostage Bride by Jane Feather, and The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran--all of which place the h/h in a sort of pressure cooker of high emotions and angst...and with plenty historical detail! So what about you? Do you shy away from war and great conflict in your historicals? Or, even if youre reading a witty Regency, is the Napoleonic War always in the back of your mind? What are some of your favorite wartime romance novels (or wartime romance movies)?
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:01:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015