Do you know about Romancelandia University?
This joyful, informal group of readers get together on the internet to celebrate historical romance. You can find out all about the philosophy and spontaneity of RU in Andie James's interview with Emily and Kelsey on First Encounters! They sprang up on Instagram, and now they're working on de-centering Meta apps, starting with an online zine on their website.
When they first announced The Third Act, I reached out with a pitch: I wanted to revisit one of my favorite historical romances of all time and examine how it intertwines romance with real history and class politics. I was thrilled when they invited me to write up my analysis as an essay!
For this essay, I returned to Longing by Mary Balogh. I first read this before I even thought of writing historical romance, and it has long been an inspiration to me of what historical romance can do. Yet when I returned to it several years later with a much deeper understanding of 19th century British history, the text hits a little differently. Find out what I mean in my essay, now available on The Third Act!
Class dynamics show up throughout my historical romances, but I think my work most influenced by Longing is my novella, In the Wide Open Light. This novella also interacts with real history and centers working class characters. Check it out from your favorite ebook retailer!
