Two people are drawn together. Life gets in their way – but love prevails. In the end, they live happily ever after.
At the heart of romance fiction is a relationship and the promise of an emotionally satisfying resolution. In these books, loved by millions the world over, the conclusion is often an engagement or marriage. But romance can adapt or subvert reader expectations: it moves with the times.
For centuries, romance fiction by Irish writers from Lady Morgan to Marian Keyes has told the story of characters in love. Yet romance remains a target for public condemnation and critical contempt, in part because these popular novels have been written largely by and for women.
Join us as we explore the forgotten history of Irish romance fiction. Enough of the heartbreak: let’s examine the complexity and cultural significance of this misunderstood genre to give romance the respect it deserves.
Paige Reynolds is Professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross. She is author of Modernism in Irish Women's Contemporary Writing: The Stubborn Mode (2023) and Modernism, Drama, and the Audience for Irish Spectacle (2007), and, and is the editor of Modernist Afterlives in Irish Literature and Culture, The New Irish Studies, and Irish Literature in Transition, Volume 6, 1980-2020 (with Eric Falci).
