What does a printing press and a Canadian fur trader have in common? One of the most successful romance publishing houses in the history of modern publishing, Harlequin! Jackie leads Jen down the marketing and publishing rabbit hole in this episode to explore the history of the little purple paperbacks everyone loves to read...and pick on.

EDIT - the day after we recorded, Harper Collins and the strike reached a tentative agreement! For more information see HarperCollins Union information

Questions/Comments/Concerns/Recommendations? Email us at ragingromantics@nopl.org!

Raging Romantics Book List

Books/authors we mention:

• How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis
• Temple of No God by H.M. Long
• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
• The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss
• Elizabeth Lowell
• Sandra Brown
• Janet Dailey
• Linda Howard
• Nora Roberts

Sources:

• “The Invention and History of the Printing Press,” (McFadden, 2018)
• “Linotype Invented and Built in Baltimore” (Cole, 2015)
• "Who said romance was dead?" (Segal, 2008)
• "What is a Linotype Machine?" (Exploring Trafford's Heritage, n.d.)
• "Mills & Boon - Archive and Library" (University of Reading Special Collections)
• "Our History" (Mills & Boon)
• What Happened to the Harlequin Romance? (Raphel, 2014)
• “​How Harlequin Became the Most Famous Name in Romance” (Faircloth, 2015)
• "Sexy Books: A Brief History Of The Harlequin Romance" (Norman, up. 2020)
• "Our History" (Harlequin)
• “Sex Sells: Harlequin’s transition from sweet to sultry” (Houck, 2017)
• "Lawrence Heisey" (Prabook, 2021)