Looking Back: Hoping for a bit of romance on Valentines day?

Ever since I can remember Mills and Boon books have transported women into another world. That of romantic and swashbuckling heroes. Their slogan was ‘Bringing romance to life!’

In the 1950s you could indulge in the world of romance to your hearts content with outlets like ‘Red Circle Libraries’ which had a branch on Snig Hill just across the road from Winstons Men’s Outfitters. These libraries bore little resemblance to the libraries we use today, but was where you could buy escapism from a drab and dreary life for a few pence. The large sign in the window said ‘Reading – Your cheapest pleasure’

They specialised in books about romance with many Mills and Boon in stock, together with others to include westerns, mysteries and thrillers.

Mills and Boon actually started in 1908 but reached their heyday during the depression years in the 1930s and 1940s when women in particular were desperate to get away from their humdrum existence and marriages which gave them few rights in or out of the home. By the 1950s when public libraries were going through a period of decline as much as anything due to the advent of television, the books started to be sold at newsagents and became the largest selection of the paperback market.

Although todays storylines include more 21st century plots, psychologists say that a large number of issues seen in their clinics are influenced by romantic fiction when women in particular still become dissatisfied by their relationships, often unable to distinguish between fact and fiction.

Although back in the day, the hero was often a complete cad, there was much chivalry in the stories, when he offered her his cape when it rained, caught her when she fell into a swoon, or asked her father to consent to her hand in marriage.

Not something todays independent young women would be bothered about, but flowers and chocolates could be a different thing!! Valentines Day is still alive and well!