Notes
1. London publishing house Mills & Boon began publishing romantic fiction in the 1920s. In 1951, Harlequin bought the rights to publish paperback versions of Mills & Boon in North America. In 1971, Mills & Boon was sold to Harlequin, Harlequin thereby becoming the parent company. Three years later, Mills & Boon Australia was established and, in the 1990s, the Harlequin brand was added to the Mills & Boon name. In the pursuit of uniformity and clarity, Harlequin, Mills & Boon, and Harlequin Mills & Boon will be referred to as the latter throughout. Research and commentary pertaining to either applies equally to both, as there is little to distinguish the publications coming out of these initially separate entities (CitationeHarlequin n.d.).
2. Emma Darcy is actually the pen name of Australian husband–wife writing team Frank and Wendy Brennan.
3. Modleski concurs, claiming, ‘Harlequin [Mills & Boon novels] can be traced back through the work of Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen’ (1990, 15).