The Flame and the Flower
Front cover by Avon Book
|
|
| Author | Kathleen E. Woodiwiss |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical romance |
| Published | April 1972, Avon |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & paperback) |
| Followed by | The Kiss (short story) |
The Flame and the Flower (published 1972) is the debut work of romance novelist Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. The first modern "bodice ripper" romance novel, the book revolutionized the historical romance genre. It was also the first full-length romance novel to be published first in paperback rather than hardback.
As a child, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss relished creating her own stories, and by age six was telling herself stories at night to help fall asleep. After she married, Woodiwiss continued to think of plots. Several times she attempted to write a novel, but each time stopped in frustration at the slow pace of writing a novel longhand. After buying her husband an electric typewriter for a Christmas present, Woodiwiss appropriated the machine to begin her novel in earnest.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the feminist movement gained visibility in the United States, female sexuality became more open. The United States Supreme Court effectively gutted the nation's obscenity laws in 1966, ruling in Memoirs v. Massachusetts that the state could not ban the reprint of John Cleland's erotic novel Fanny Hill. Attitudes toward premarital sex also relaxed considerably. In 1972, less than 40% of American women fully or conditionally endorsed premarital sex; by 1982, 58% of women had adopted this attitude.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were two routes to publication for romance novels. Short novels which followed a conventional plot pattern and were set in contemporary times were known as category romances. These were distributed to drugstores and other mass-market outlets and were generally available for only one month before being pulled from the shelves. Longer novels, set in either contemporary or historical times, were published in hardback.
Woodiwiss's finished work, The Flame and the Flower, was 600 pages long. It was rejected by multiple agents and hardcover publishers for its length. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, Woodiwiss instead submitted it to paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon editor Nancy Coffey pulled the manuscript from the slush pile and liked what she read. Avon purchased the publication rights from Woodiwiss for $1,500 and agreed to pay her 4% of the royalties.
...
Wikipedia