Two Sorts of Historical Romances

I’ve read a few historical romances in my time, and they divide themselves, more or less, into two groups.

Historical Backdrop Romances

These romances are set in historical times, but apart from the odd “nay” and “verily” and the gowns and destriers, the hero and heroine could be staring longingly at each other across any crowded bar along Fifth Avenue, New York City.  That’s not to say that the romance isn’t any good — it is.  The conflict and tension is right up there with the best of them, or it would never have been published in the first place.

It’s just that if you stripped out the historical background, and clothed the hero in jeans, you could still tell the story anyway.   The historical backdrop, in this case, supplies an atmosphere and scenery only.

Sometimes, an historical backdrop romance is all you want.  You just want a hero in breeches and a heroine in a long gown to be swept off her feet, and you don’t want to have to wade through all the petty intricacies of a country’s unstable political system and in-fighting court.    Or  you just want a small, intimate romance that focuses in upon a single family and not a whole kingdom.

There are some excellent historical backdrop romances out there, and you used to find most of them in the category romance shelves.  Kensington Brava used to publish a lot of them, too.

These days, given the shrinking market, you’ll need to go by author to find them.  If you know of any that you personally can recommend, perhaps drop their names and websites (if you know them) into the comments section, along with any notes you can think of (era they like to write in, etc).

Political Historical Romances

I can’t think of a better name for them, unfortunately, for this name makes them sound like something out of West Wing. But historical romances that actually use historical events and perhaps even characters from the era they’re set in are actually borrowing from the political events of the time, as that’s what most historical events are recording — the power-players of the day:  Kings and queens, lords and ladies, wars, battles, knights, etc.  Hence, political historical romances.

These romances’ plots lean far more heavily on “current” events, and you can’t strip out the historical background without the story collapsing in on itself.  That doesn’t necessarily mean these romances are better than historical backdrop romances — I’ve seen some awful political historical romances that got so bogged down in the politics of the era that the author forgot to keep the plot — and the romance — moving along.   But handled with a deft touch, political historical romances can make for some real tension-filled romance stories.  These are the sort of romances that edge into the romantic suspense territory — that would make them historical romantic suspense.

However, even political historical romances don’t have to be epic in scale.  Consider, for instance, the scale of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  Although she was writing what was for her, a contemporary romance, if it was written today, it would be a political historical romance — a perfectly written one at that; it focuses narrowly upon a single family and its concerns, but because you could not strip the historical setting out without completely ruining the story, it becomes a political historical romance.  Elizabeth’s conflict centres around the fact that she is the second of four daughters of a middle income family that cannot provide dowries for any of them.  You couldn’t put that into a contemporary setting — not even with a bit of tweaking.

Most political historical romances, because there is so much plot levered into them, used to be found on the mainstream romances shelves.  They tend to be bigger and fatter.  These days, just like their historical backdrop cousins, you have to hunt them down author-by-author.  If you know of any that you personally can recommend, perhaps drop their names and websites (if you know them) into the comments section, along with any notes you can think of (era they like to write in, etc).

Tweet This Post

Related Posts

• Shelley Munro's Fortune Soldiers...Ninja Style. Hee-Ya! Today, we're celebrating the launch of Shelley Munro's Soldier of Fortune, and her really cool cover, while I take every opportunity to nudge her in the ribs because she's a Kiwi.  It's a thing, you see.  I'm Aussie, she's not.  She's one of those.  Although, ever since New Zealand produced......
• Alan Elsner Thinks Romance Novels are Porn. I Wonder What He'd Make of Erotic Romance Then? I've got used to the entire world minus romance readers taking pot shots at the romance industry whenever it feels like having a good guffaw over what they presume to be the sweats and teeshirt brigade sighing into their paperbacks over the latest obsession in tree-trunk-thighed heroes and vestal virgins......
• The Difficulties of Writing Really Old Erotic Historical Romances.  [/caption]Ever wondered why there aren't more erotic historical romances out there? I've always written the odd historical romance, but my output has dropped considerably since the market bottomed out rather dramatically a few years ago.  Since erotic romances bloomed in the early 2000's I naturally switched my attention over to......
• Desiree Holt Sees Red - Find Out Why and Win A Copy Of Dancing With Danger Today Desiree Holt is guest posting to mark the launch of her new Ellora's Cave title, Dancing with Danger. Help make her welcome by leaving a comment or two.  Desiree has been kind enough to donate a copy of her book as a prize, too.  So let's get right down......
• The Complete Ellora’s Cave Primer for Newbies Who Are Too Afraid To Ask – Part 2 What Ellora’s Cave Has To Offer You, The Reader Jump to Part 1: What is Ellora’s Cave? Jump to Part 2: What Ellora’s Cave Has To Offer You, The Reader Jump to Part 3: How to Ease into Ellora's Cave Jump To Part 4: Other Way To Keep Up With......

Related Websites

• Romancing the Novel Carnival #4 Welcome to the fourth edition of romancing the novel. This one is pretty much a link frenzy. We have links on RWA, romance in general, book reviews, author interviews, industry professional interviews, writing tips and more! If you read all of the articles shared below I could conceive that a......
• Get Into Bed With Sabrina Jeffries (Author Interview) Boy, do I have a treat for LRP readers! I recently was able to interview Sabrina Jeffries after the RWA Conference. Amidst her busy schedule she was more than kind enough to sit down and respond in depth on the topics broached. Get a cup of tea or coffee......
• The Role of Romance in Thrillers by Cym Lowell, guest blogger and author of Riddle of Berlin. When a writer crafts a thriller, is there a role that romance should play in the plot?   This would be a great question for a creative writing class, along with other plot elements.  Why?  I can think......
• Renting Ski Equipment When you are just getting started in skiing, or when you are trying to figure out whether or not this is the right type of sport for you, then it is definitely going to make sense for you to rent the ski equipment that you need in order to get......
• Defining the Genre: Science Fiction Romance I don't know about you but I get very confused when it comes to Science Fiction Romance! What is it exactly and how do I find it? To help explain, I invited Heather Massey of Galaxy Express to Love Romance Passion to share her thoughts and perceptions of this......