Mills & Boon
| Parent company | Harlequin Enterprises |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters location | Richmond, London |
| Distribution | International |
| Publication types | Books / eBooks |
| Fiction genres | Romance |
| Imprints | Many |
| Official website | www |
Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the publisher was bought by the Canadian company Harlequin Enterprises, its North American distributor based in Toronto, with whom it had a long informal partnership. The two companies offer a number of imprints that between them account for almost three-quarters of the romance paperbacks published in Britain. Its print books are presently out-numbered and out-sold by the company's e-books, which allowed the publisher to double its output.
The publisher has been criticised for books that are considered low-brow and formulaic, although this has also been cited as one of the reasons for their success. Feminists have pilloried Mills & Boon novels as misogynistic rape fantasies, even as hate speech, and condemned novels as responsible for poor sexual health and failed relationships among their readers.
Modern Mills & Boon novels, over one hundred of which are released each month, cover a wide range of possible romantic subgenres, varying in explicitness, setting and style, although retaining a comforting familiarity that meets reader expectations.
Mills & Boon was founded by Gerald Rusgrove Mills (3 January 1877 – 1928) and Charles Boon (1877 – 2 December 1943) in 1908 as a general fiction publisher, although their first book was, prophetically, a romance. An early signing was the mystery and crime writer Victor Bridges. Mills & Boon also published - in 1911 and 1912 - two early works by Hugh Walpole, including the very successful Mr Perrin and Mr Traill (which was subsequently filmed). It was not until the 1930s that the company began to concentrate specifically on romances. The company was purchased on 1 October 1971, by Harlequin Enterprises of Canada, their North American distributor.
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