Regency romance

On the Threshold, Edmund Blair Leighton

Regency romances are a subgenre of romance novels set during the period of the British Regency or early 19th century. Rather than simply being versions of contemporary romance stories transported to a historical setting, Regency romances are a distinct genre with their own plot and stylistic conventions that derive from the works of Jane Austen, (and to some extent from distinguished Austen imitators such as Georgette Heyer and Clare Darcy), and from the fiction genre known as the novel of manners. In particular, the more traditional Regencies feature a great deal of intelligent, fast-paced dialog between the protagonists and very little explicit sex or discussion of sex.

Other common elements of Regency romances include:

• references to the Ton (le bon ton)
• depictions of social activities common during the social season such as carriage rides, morning calls, dinners, routs, plays, operas, assemblies, balls, etc.
• references to, or descriptions of, athletic activities engaged in by fashionable young men of the period, including riding, driving, boxing, fencing, hunting, shooting, etc.
• differences of social class
• marriages of convenience
• false engagements
• cyprians (sex workers), demireps (women of ill repute), mistresses and other women employed by rakehells and men from the upper classes
• mistaken identity, deliberate or otherwise
• mystery or farce elements in the plot

Like other fiction genres and subgenres, Regencies experience cyclic popularity swings.

The readership waned during the 1990s with the rise of historical romances (and the switch of many Regency writers to the historical genre). In the early 2000s, both Regencies and other historical romances lost popularity in favor of contemporary settings. The market, nearly entirely in the United States,^{[citation needed]} was also hurt by changes in distributing and retailing romances. The last two major U.S. publishers to produce the shorter "traditional" Regencies regularly were Zebra and Signet. This ended in 2005, when Zebra stopped their traditional Regency line, and early 2006, when Signet ended its Regencies. There are few "traditional" Regencies now published in the United States; some of the few publishers that still do so are Avalon Books, Berkeley Books, Five Star Books, Cerridwen Press (Cotillion) and (according to some) the Harlequin Historical line. Regencies are still available through the second-hand book market, and online as e-books, via Belgrave House (which publishes out-of-print books) and Cerridwen Press.

The Regency subgenre changed somewhat during the 1990s and 2000s, when authors began incorporating more sex into their novels, under pressure from a changing reader base. While some long-time readers balked, publishers viewed the inclusion of sex scenes as a means of keeping the subgenre afloat. The goal was to appeal to a new generation of readers while still delivering the witty and clever plotlines loyal readers love. Regency romance authors such as Sandra Heath, Anita Mills, and Mary Balogh were the first to write about sexual relationships between the hero and heroine (or more rarely, between the hero and his mistress).

Not all Regency romance novels are frothy period pieces. Such authors as Balogh, Carla Kelly, Sheila Bishop, and Mary Jo Putney all depict the underbelly of Regency society, exploring a variety of social ills in their novels. Some authors feature seriously troubled heroes and heroines, who suffer from post-battle trauma, alcoholism, depression, and the like.

External links

• The Regency and Post-Regency Period, from All About Romance
• The Beau Monde Regency Writer's Organization
• Good Ton: A Resource for Regency readers & writers; lists nearly all Regencies published by five houses. Reviews many hard-to-find books.
• Regency Romance Writers
• Rakehell -- for Regency Readers
• Regency Reader