How popular is historical romance?

 

Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods. Walter Scott began it all in the early 19th century. with books like Ivanhoe and Rob Roy.

Some say  historical romance dominates the romance genre. Others disagree.

Historical romance novels set in particular time periods usually offer rich character development plus descriptive prose. Some say that anything in a setting prior to 1950 is categorized as historical though those who were born before that date beg to differ!

The most popular eras are:

• · Medieval Period
• · Viking Age
• · 17th Century Scottish Highlands
• · Colonial America
• · Regency England*
• · Victorian England
• · American Civil War
• · American Western Expansion
• · Early 20th Century

*Regency historical denote stories between the time period of 1811-1820, during the Regency Era of England, sometimes expanded to 1795-1837. The emphasis of the story is often on the society of the times and usually imitates the dialogue habits of the time, but like the entire genre, swirls around a relationship that has a happy-ever-after conclusion.

(This list from the internet has taken American sales and habits into consideration, and because of the massive population in that country, they tend to swamp the lists.)

Kathleen Woodwiss and her book The Wolf and the Dove, which I read many years ago, is an example of the common belief that historical romance is full of women in corsets desperate for love in a patriarchal society. Older book covers of the genre have done little to help. Covers today tend to focus on the heroine wearing an exaggerated ball gown and do offer a heroine who has more on her mind than finding love
.