Re: Mills & Boon, Hull & Whitlock etc.

Posted by Tim on September 28, 1997 at 11:35:45:

In Reply to: Re: John & Nancy , Timothy & Peggy etc. etc. posted by Forrest Brownell on September 26, 1997 at 19:22:02:

Dear Forrest,

Some brief notes on matters of cultural background:

Mills & Boon. Publishers of hugely popular
'romantic' novels. Stereotypical plot: shy student nurse worshipe
handsome, successful doctor from afar. After many misunderstandings and
setbacks, he finally clasps her in his strong arms and covers her
upturned face with burning kisses. Traditionally, M&B novels
ended at the bedrooom door: more recently (I am informed) they
have started to take surreptitious peeps through the keyhole.
Hull & Whitlock. Katharine Hull (aet. 15)
and Pamela Whitlock (aet.17) sent the manuscript of their novel
The Far-distant Oxus to AR, who arranged for it to be published
by Cape with a foreword by himself. (see Brogan Life, pp.
351-355). They wrote two further books with the same setting and
characters: Escape to Persia and The Oxus in Summer.
It may seem unfair to mention Hull & Whitlock in the same breath as
Mills & Boon, but it does have to be admitted that the darkly
handsome and enigmatic Maurice does display many of the
characteristics of an M&B hero (short of the burning kisses)
and even as a kid I wondered whether he would eventually marry one
of the girl characters, and if so which. John and Nancy, on the other
hand, are so close to brother-and-sister that speculation as to current
or future emotional involvements would have seemed (and still seems)
merely bizarre ...
New Statesman competition entry. I, too,
would love to see the whole text again: if I manage to track it down,
I'll post it immediately to Tarboard.

Tim